Merriman Catherine, Deane Kevin
Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom; currently North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust, United Kingdom.
Department of Economics, Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom.
Afr J AIDS Res. 2023 Apr;22(1):9-17. doi: 10.2989/16085906.2022.2154232. Epub 2023 Mar 29.
Gender inequalities have long been recognised as one of the most significant factors influencing the dynamics of the HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, it remains unclear how men and women are discussed in HIV-prevention initiatives and if certain representations of men and women impact prevention guidance. This research aimed to understand how men and women are portrayed in HIV-prevention guidelines produced by UNAIDS for the SSA region, and how these influence the different types of interventions targeted at women and men. Thirty-four UNAIDS prevention documents were included in the study. The policy documents were analysed to ascertain the frequency of different interventions suggested, the extent to which they were targeted at men and women, and a textual analysis of the way that men and women were represented. Due to a lack of information regarding other gender identities, the research was aimed at cis-gender men and women only. The analysis revealed that most policy documents focused on women, that there were differences in the types of interventions targeted at men and women, with few social interventions targeted at men, and that the language used to describe men and women repeats traditional gender stereotypes and cements simplistic dualisms. The lack of social interventions targeted at men suggests that behaviour change among men is not highly prioritised in current prevention initiatives. Instead, current UNAIDS policy focuses on women as the key site for intervention and empowerment. UNAIDS should therefore provide more details and examples about how best to engage men and boys in prevention efforts, as well as to include more nuanced conceptions of gender in policy guidance.
长期以来，性别不平等一直被视为影响撒哈拉以南非洲地区（SSA）艾滋病毒流行动态的最重要因素之一。然而，目前尚不清楚在艾滋病毒预防倡议中如何讨论男性和女性，以及男性和女性的某些形象是否会影响预防指导。本研究旨在了解联合国艾滋病规划署为SSA地区制定的艾滋病毒预防指南中如何描绘男性和女性，以及这些描绘如何影响针对男性和女性的不同类型干预措施。该研究纳入了34份联合国艾滋病规划署的预防文件。对这些政策文件进行分析，以确定所建议的不同干预措施的频率、它们针对男性和女性的程度，以及对男性和女性形象呈现方式的文本分析。由于缺乏关于其他性别身份的信息，该研究仅针对顺性别男性和女性。分析表明，大多数政策文件关注女性，针对男性和女性的干预措施类型存在差异，针对男性的社会干预措施很少，而且用于描述男性和女性的语言重复了传统的性别刻板印象并强化了简单化的二元论。缺乏针对男性的社会干预措施表明，在当前的预防倡议中，男性行为改变并非高度优先事项。相反，联合国艾滋病规划署目前的政策将重点放在女性作为干预和赋权的关键对象上。因此，联合国艾滋病规划署应提供更多关于如何最好地让男性和男孩参与预防工作的细节和示例，并在政策指导中纳入更细致入微的性别观念。
