Johannesburg - The public health system's discrimination of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community is hampering efforts to eliminate HIV and Aids, Right to Care said yesterday.
The non-profit organisation that provides support in providing HIV prevention, care and treatment services is rolling out a sensitisation programme, Right to Pride, to educate healthcare workers about the LGBTI community before World Aids Day on Thursday.
“To combat HIV/Aids, we need to talk about anal sex or anal smears as normally as we talk about vaginal sex or vaginal smears,” Right to Care HIV and Aids clinic head Dr Sello Mashamaite said. “We need to accept without bias or judgment what sex involves for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex individuals in the same way that we do for heterosexual partners. As we prepare for World Aids Day, the right to acceptance, tolerance and equality must take precedence in our healthcare environment.”
It's estimated that nearly 6.75 million people are infected with HIV in the country, with 3.3 million on treatment.
Right to Pride - which is in partnership with the Department of Health and Helen Joseph Hospital through the Thembalethu Clinic - will focus on ensuring LGBTI individuals are fully accepted at clinics and facilities.
The organisation said it would deliver inclusive, rights-based and gender-sensitive services.
“It trains and sensitises healthcare professionals to eliminate any personal negative sentiments towards LGBTI patients. It empowers them to ask the right questions so LGBTI individuals can offer their answers without fear of shame, and in turn, be provided with the right treatment.”
Mashamaite said that if information about patients was compromised, the clinical response would be too.
“We aren't going to eliminate HIV/Aids if this scenario is not addressed. Fear of stigmatisation prevents many people from identifying themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Many do not seek healthcare at all because of prior negative experiences.”
Speaking for Right to Pride, Craig Chapman said segregating migrant workers, drug users, sex workers, clients of sex workers, prisoners, the LGBTI community or heterosexuals from anyone else living with or exposed to HIV/Aids wasn't helpful.
“It has curbed the effectiveness of treatment, management and care for too long. The LGBTI community is as different and as diverse as any other population.”
Chapman said a high percentage of heterosexual couples also had anal sex. That was critical in the healthcare context as anal sex was also the riskiest for HIV transmission because of limited cell thickness and lack of lubrication in the anus.
The Star