Culture, gender, and HIV in Zimbabwe

After years of disseminating HIV and AIDS information through its partners in the region it became apparent to SAfAIDS that information alone was not going to be the magic answer for behaviour change and thus reduction in HIV transmission. The high levels of literacy and awareness in Zimbabwe had done almost nothing to reduce gender disparity and the marginalisation of women - which are central to fuelling HIV.

Aware that gender and male dominance are closely linked to people's culture, it was crucial that any new thinking about responding to HIV needed to focus on addressing culture and traditions that negatively influence the lives of women in the African context. Failure to effectively address culture, gender and HIV individually and together would certainly lead to ineffective interventions to the African HIV epidemic.

In 2006, with support from Oxfam Canada, SAfAIDS partnered with Seke Rural Home Based Care to launch a two-year pilot project that would work differently with communities by focusing on gender transformation as a way to fight HIV. The interventions supported and built communities' abilities to reflect and critically think about those practices that fuel gender inequality and HIV, focusing on how the community itself could bring about the required positive changes in the negative aspects of culture and tradition. 

There was a belief among the project implementers that by having a better appreciation and understanding of the cultural ideologies that drive people would be a ripple effect that would lead to improved gender and HIV interventions in Africa.