The search is on for the good guys ‘€“ South African men who respect their partners, protect their children and make no excuses for unprotected sex.

This is the essence of the ‘€œBrothers for Life’€ campaign, being launched on Saturday (29 Aug) in KwaMashu ‘€“ one of South Africa’€™s most violent townships and a community badly affected by HIV/AIDS.

‘€œWe want to break the silence, and mobilise men around the real values that define being a man in South Africa,’€ says Mandla Ndlovu, from Johns Hopkins Health and Education SA (JHHESA), one of the campaign partners.

JHHESA, Sonke Gender Justice, the Department of Health, SA National AIDS Council and USAID, have drawn up a manifesto which will be promoted by over 30 organisations in communities throughout the country after the launch.

The aim is to encourage communities to identify and support local male role models as part of an effort to get men to take responsibility for stopping the spread of AIDS.

The manifesto urges men to be a ‘€œbrother for life’€ by:

• Choosing ‘€œa single partner over multiple chances with HIV’€™
• Making ‘€˜no excuses for unprotected sex, even after drinking alcohol’€
• Supporting their partner while pregnant, and protecting their children from HIV infection ‘€“ mainly by testing for HIV and encouraging their pregnant partners with HIV to take medication to prevent infecting their baby and supporting their choices around only breast feeding or only using formula feed.
• Respecting their partners and ‘€œnever lifting a hand to them’€
• Taking care of themselves by going for medical check-ups and choosing a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise, healthy eating and limited alcohol.

Despite research that shows that South African men are among the most violent in the world, what is not often recognised is that our macho culture also makes men very vulnerable to death and disease.

 ‘€œMen think of ill-health as a sign of weakness which is why they go to a doctor less often than women,’€ according to a Khayelitsha survey.

And the health statistics bear this out. Only one-fifth of all the people being tested for HIV were men, according to a recent national study of VCT services. Yet people who know their HIV status are more likely to use condoms ‘€“ our only known way to prevent HIV transmission during sex.

Men account for about one-third of all people on antiretroviral treatment, yet based on infection rates, roughly 45% of those on ARVs should be men. Men also seek help for AIDS later than women, when their immune systems are more damaged and their chances of recovery are not that good.

In addition, masculinity is often equated with ‘€œsexual conquest’€ and having more than one sexual partner at a time, according to research conducted by Sonke Gender Justice.

But ‘€œone of the most significant factors driving the spread of HIV across sub-Saharan Africa’€ is ‘€œmultiple and concurrent sexual partnerships’€ and ‘€œhaving more than one sexual partner at the same time is a strong predictor of HIV infection’€, says Sonke.

Widespread alcohol abuse also makes men more likely to have casual sex without a condom or get involved in violence.

Gender based violence is also fuelling HIV infection in South Africa. Our levels of rape are among the highest in the world (and conviction rates among the lowest), while domestic violence is widespread.

Almost seven out of 10 domestic violence cases in the Cape Metropolitan area were alcohol related, according to the Medical Research Council. Another study found that South Africans who regularly had five or more drinks at a time were more likely to be HIV-positive.

‘€œAlthough much good work has been done to engage men in efforts to reduce gender inequality, most programs have been small in scale and had limited sustainability,’€ says JHHESA’€™s Ndlovu.’€œ If South Africa wants to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and enhance the physical and psychological health of all its people, it is time to bring men on board,’€ says JHHESA’€™s Mandla Ndlovu.

* For more information, send a Please Call Me to 072 924 2559 or go to www.brothersforlife.org