On the other hand, most women in rural Malawi regularly walk to the clinic. They receive dedicated services for their pregnancies and for their young children and are routinely tested for HIV. If they are found to be infected they are immediately started on anti-retroviral medication. This enables them to live many more years with HIV and blocks the transmission of HIV to their children.
It is well known that there are more HIV positive women than men in sub-Saharan Africa. While women are more likely to be infected, men account for 60% of all HIV-related deaths. Most are related to poor use of HIV testing and treatment.
In eastern and southern Africa, the regions most affected by HIV, over 65% of men who are HIV positive have never started treatment. HIV is a manageable disease when treated well. If it is not treated, or treated too late, it becomes a death sentence.
Why aren’t men tested and treated for HIV? The standard response is that men refuse to admit that they need help. Alternatively, they refuse to attend a clinic considering health care a woman’s activity. It is a common and perhaps universal stereotype: the macho man who refuses to see a doctor, opting instead to “man up”.
But is a macho ideal of manhood really to blame?