STI's ravage Varsity students

STI’s ravage Varsity students

A combination of limited financial resources, a carefree youth and the luring power of foreigners have teamed up to drive up sexually transmitted infections at Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) and the adjacent Mashava local community.

There has been widespread sexual activity on campus and this has seen the rise of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) spiking sharply. Efforts to get the actual figures from the local clinic proved fruitless as several trips yielded nothing as the nurse who attended us said students normally shun the local clinic and prefer treatment in town to avoid being laughed at for visiting the health center.

But in a survey by this reporter young female students doing part one first semester have been the main prey of marauding vultures in the form of local businessmen and others who come from as far as Masvingo and Zvishavane

One of the new students, Fadzie aged 19 (not her real name) opened up to this reporter by saying ‘’When I came to this institution an old man in the same age as my father or older proposed love to me. I was shocked given the age disparity between us and fortunately the pep talk my mother had given me on departure from home made me differentiate right and wrong’’.

Others have been not so wise or fortunate when dealing with these intergenerational relationships as Onai (not her real name) found out. ‘’ I fell in love with a prominent Zvishavane businessman (name withheld) who treated me with goodies and cash something which my parents had failed to adequately supply me with and after our third sexual encounter I began to feel some abdominal pains. A visit to a city doctor proved the unthinkable …I had contracted a dreaded STI (genital warts).

Though still on treatment, she has not fully recovered from the scars of a literally near death experience.

Then there is the carefree bunch, the group which intentionally engages in unprotected sex particularly with foreign students from the DRC, Namibia and Malawi. The foreigners are said to be loaded with cash and other goodies which attract these young ladies. 

Patience Mugwira, a student peer educator with Students And Youth Working on Reproductive Health Action Team (SAYWHAT) stationed at GZU Mashava Campus said that they are working hard on holding workshops to interact with students and share information on abstinence from sexual activity and where abstinence is difficult encourage them to use a wide range of protection which include condoms.

SAfAIDS, another NGO has embarked on a national campaign dubbed Madhara Kwete, to concertize young girls and women particularly the university going group on the pitfalls involved in dating older men, what is termed intergenerational relationships (any relationship involving two people with a 10year plus age variance). 

According to the Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey (ZDHS) (2010 - 2011) maiden sexual intercourse amongst women is 18, 6 years where as men start sexual intercourse at an average of 20, 6 years. This points out to women at 19 years initially having sex with older generations than their male counterparts (21 years) who have to wait longer.

Reasons proffered for these relationships are mainly centered on money issues with universities demanding fees ranging from $600 to $800 per semester a figure most parents literally scrounge to pay leaving their children at the mercy of married but cash laden sugar daddies and sugar mommies who entice them with monetary benefits and material goods.

This goes without saying young men have also been caught in the web of sex for goodies as the ZDHS report noted that young men at 10 % attested to having had sex with an older woman of an upwards of ten years.

A survey by the National Aids Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) showed that STI cases in Masvingo were at an unprecedented high of 24 000 –a slap in the face of concerted efforts to slow the spread of the infections and ultimately HIV and Aids.

                                                                               

Gender Equality in Zimbabwe

‘Make gender equality a reality’

                               

The government should speed up the setting up of the Zimbabwe Gender Commission ensure that women are represented and accorded the respect and empowerment they deserve in society.

We have to ensure that women are represented at the highest decision making levels to ensure progress in gender equality.

As women we are standing for gender equality. Women need representation in government and the government should expedite the setting up of the Gender Commission so as to address gender disparities

Chapter 12 of The Constitution of Zimbabwe adopted in 2013 has a provision for an independent Gender Commission. The Zimbabwe Gender Commission Bill gazetted in July 2014 seeks to establish a nine member independent body but is yet to be enacted and be aligned to the supreme law of the land. 

This has resulted in delays in setting up the Gender Commission –one of the five independent commissions identified as key drivers of democracy -which is constitutionally mandated among other things to ensure gender equality and elimination of patriarchal beliefs which mostly disadvantage women and the girl child.

In the region other countires like South Africa and Kenya have set up gender commissions to address inequalities in society namely Commission for Gender Equity and National Gender and Equality Commission respectively.