Myths, Secrets and Inequality Surround Ugandan Women ’ s Sex Lives

A nurse demonstrates how to use a condom at Christa Medical Clinic in Jinja, Uganda. Credit: Lyndal Rowlands/IPS.By Lyndal RowlandsJinja, UGANDA, Sep 11 2016 (IPS)Mambera Hellem tells her friends and neighbours about all forms of contraception, yet despite their high HIV risk she knows many of the women she speaks to will not use condoms.When I ask Mambera and her friend Kyolaba Amina if it is a woman or a man who decides to wear a condom, Kyolaba giggles softly at my question. “It is not easy for a woman to initiate condom use because it will bring about questions of trust,” says Mambera. “The man would ask the wife if she does not trust him.”Kyolaba though has deeper suspicions, adding that some men “deliberately want to infect their wives”.“I don’t know why men do that but I have seen a case where a woman and a man had discordant (HIV) results but the man did not want to use condoms because before they were having unprotected sex, why (not) now.”Kyolaba (left) and Mambera (right) both also speak to men about contraception, but Mambera says that most men are “not interested.”In a country where many myths abound around contraceptives and their side effects, the most popular forms of contraception for the women in this community are depo-provera “depo” and intrauterine device (IUD) implants.“You find many women who have children every year, so it is such women we reach out to,” says Mambera.Some women even prefer IUDs or depo because unlike con...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Africa Featured Gender Gender Violence Headlines Health HIV and Aids Uganda Source Type: news