BOKO HARAM TERRORISM AND INCREASED RATES OF HIV/AIDS AMONG WOMEN OF NORTH EAST

Kalsum Shettima
Aug 9, 2017 · 3 min read

Gender is an inextricable part of the HIV/AIDS equation. Young women are disproportionately vulnerable to infection; elderly women and young girls are also disproportionately affected by the burden of care giving in the rampant wake. Globally, females make up to more than 50% of People Living with HIV (PLHIV) while in sub-Saharan Africa, 60% of PLHIV are females. In low and middle income countries worldwide, HIV is the leading cause of death and diseases in women of reproductive age. Rates of HIV testing and treatment tend to be lower among men compared to women. Gender inequality and poor respect for the human rights of women and girls are key factors in the HIV/AIDS epidemic, both from the point of view of effectiveness and from the call of social justice.
Violence against women and girls is the risk factor for HIV as well as a consequence of being HIV positive. About 35.6% of women across the world have experienced either non-partner sexual violence or physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner or both.
Gender-based violence and gender inequality are increasingly quote as important determinants of women’s HIV risk. In Nigeria, women and girls abducted by the insurgency groups are forced to marry, convert and endure physical and psychological abuse, forced labor, and rape in captivity.
No fewer than 5,000 internally displaced persons IDPs in camp in embattled Borno State in North East Nigeria are HIV positive. The victims were displaced from several Borno towns and villages. Most of this patients were women who had been rescued by Boko Haram captivity. The victims were not effectively accessing anti-retroviral therapy because of stigmatization. Many have died of the curse lacking proper counselling and sensitization on the need to enroll under the HIV/AIDS control program. The IDPs with such ailments are constantly challenged, they do not go out to access drugs, and most of them are shy while some are afraid to be identified by others as carriers.
Many of the girls were raped while some were conceived into sex through false marriage, hunger, and promises materials and financial assistance, those conceived into sex were abandoned after they became pregnant. They and their children suffered discrimination, abuse and stigmatization from other camp residents. Some were abducted by Boko Haram members and force into marriage before they escaped to Maiduguri.
Women and girls are also being abused by members of security forces and vigilant groups. Civilian self-defense groups working with government forces in their fight against Boko Haram.
About 70% of Nigerian women live below the $1 a day inception emphasizing the feminization of poverty in Nigeria. A woman in Bakassi IDP camp said residents get only one meal a day. She said she accepted the advancement of a vigilant group member because she needed help in feeding her 6 children, he disappeared after 4 months when she told him she was pregnant. Victims of rape and sexual exploitations may be less likely to seek health care including counselling due to shame they feel.
LET’S PROMOTE SUPPORT FOR GENDER AND SOCIAL INCLUSION.
#NOTANOTHERNIGERIAN WOMAN OR GIRL WILL BE SEXUALLY ABUSED
@neieffellow

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