“With our continuing war in the Middle East and plenty of problems to deal with at home, why should Canadians be concerned about some disease in some far away land?” asked anthropology professor Richard Lee.
Lee was discussing his work on AIDS in Southern Africa in the final lecture of the University Professor Lecture Series last Monday night at the Isabel Bader Theatre. But the problem of international disease seemed anything but remote. “The current public health crises here in Toronto with SARS brings home just how interconnected we all are as a species,” he said. “It is my conviction that Canadians can’t and won’t turn our backs on a problem of the magnitude of AIDS.”
Lee discussed three different communities in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, explaining why they had different experiences with AIDS. He stressed the political and economic factors that affect the spread of AIDS.
“By the time of the world conference on AIDS in 2000 it would become clear that Southern Africa suffered the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the world…. The rates have continued to climb despite massive government, NGO and international agencies’ efforts.”
Lee cited apartheid and poverty as forces that helped the spread of AIDS. “Structural adjustment programs by the International Monetary Foundation and the World Bank have also been responsible,” he said. But this does not tell the full story.
The persistence of risky sexual behaviour and “a secrecy so obsessive that it hampers diagnosis and care” is also to blame. Lee argued the “basic key to the prevention of the spread of AIDS is the question of women’s power, status and equality.”
Young women aged 14-25 are three times more likely to become infected than men of the same age.
U of T students interviewed urban high school and university students in Namibia and found protection from the disease was not high on students’ lists of priorities. “If you have sex you will live longer,” said one young student.
Sexuality is a means of gaining status for both sexes but condom use is rare, even though one in five Namibians are infected with AIDS. “The youths’ attitudes persist with a mixture of cynicism, bravado and denial,” said Lee, citing a January survey in which 60 per cent of Namibian youth believed they would become infected within the next 12 months.
Lee explained the status of women is key to the spread of AIDS. Where rapes are particularly common, “women can purchase rape insurance that provides a short course of anti-viral medication that can lessen the chances of them contracting the virus.”
“There is light at the end of the tunnel,” said Lee. “Empowerment of women…creating jobs for women and girls may be one of the most productive investments that international agencies can make.” He gave encouraging examples of grassroots programs that provide work for women and also discussed Namibian Men For Change—a consciousness-raising group that works to change concepts of masculinity.
The lecture was very well attended. Michael Goldberg, president of the Global Knowledge Foundation—the student group that arranged the speaker series— said the group had received sponsorship for the next five years and plans many more events, including a talk by author Jan Martel in October.
