Thursday, December 12, 2024

Homosexuality may derail HIV/AIDS fight – Kaseba

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FILE: First Lady Dr Christine Kaseba speaks as Central province minister Mwaliteta looks on during Ichibwelamushi Cultural ceremony at Chalata main arena in Mkushi on September 14,2013-Picture by THOMAS NSAMA
FILE: First Lady Dr Christine Kaseba speaks as Central province minister Mwaliteta looks on during Ichibwelamushi Cultural ceremony at Chalata main arena in Mkushi on September 14,2013-Picture by THOMAS NSAMA

FIRST Lady Christine Kaseba says there is need for continued talk about homosexuality because it may derail the progress made in the fight against HIV and AIDS if not properly tackled.

Speaking in Lusaka on Tuesday night during a reception held in honour of cooperating partners, Dr Kaseba said the country has seen a 51 percent reduction of HIV new infections.

“We need to start talking a lot about the salient issues like men having sex with fellow men. I am concerned about the vulnerability of women who sleep with men that also have sex with other men,” Dr Kaseba said.

She said with a national HIV prevalence rate of 14.3 percent, Zambian women carry the burden of a higher HIV prevalence rate of 16 percent compared with the 12 percent for men.

Dr Kaseba said diseases such as cervical cancer that have a direct and fatal link to HIV continue to claim the lives of many women.

She said, however, that the pilot cervical cancer vaccination project which was introduced in May this year has reached 80 percent of its target for both school and out- of-school-girls.

Dr Kaseba said although much more needs to be done to effectively integrate cervical cancer screening into HIV services and build the capacity to screen, refer and treat, there has been rapid expansion of cancer screening and treatment nationwide.

“I would like to urge UNAIDS and the board members to use your influence on policy-making and forging stronger partnerships at a global level to fight these challenges,” she said.

And UNAIDS deputy executive director Jan Beagle said the importance of multi-stakeholder engagement and multi-sectoral approaches for effective AIDS responses has been well demonstrated in Zambia.

Ms Beagle said despite the achievement Zambia has made so far, the country still has one of the lowest HIV testing rates in the region.

“Testing for both sexes is low with only 20 percent of young men and 50 percent of young women being tested in 2009,” Ms Beagle said.

She said Zambia needs to be mindful of the marginalised groups that are unable to access the information and services they need to protect themselves.

“Between seven and 11 percent of new infections in Zambia occur in populations of men who have sex with fellow men, transgender persons, people who inject drugs and sex workers,” Ms Beagle said.

She said integration of human rights in the AIDS response is imperative and that ending new infections will not be possible without the attention to the social and legal contexts in which people live.

28 COMMENTS

    • I know I have been vilified and hated in here but what I don’t understand is the absurdness at Lusakatimes to disparage gay people who
      Are just the same as you and I.
      So Mr lungu, what of the children on the streets we need to “protect” our children. Are we worried that letting gays get married will double the attendance of the PF to turn all our children gay? If we are talking about the children of a gay couple whether through adoption (that is a whole other issue), artificial insemination, surrogacy, or the old fashioned way; then would it not be more beneficial for these children to have a married couple as parents, particularly for legal reasons?
      These people are often better than the single parents or no parents who father their children and abandon them

      Thanks

    • Hate you? – no. It’s an internet forum. That’s how it works. If people don’t agree with you they say so or down-vote you (sometimes coupled with a few insults for good measure). No one loses sleep because of it. If you’re that sensitive then only post agreeable things about rainbows, alternative recipes for kapenta and the lovely flowers in your garden.

    • I’m not so sure if this is the same Mushota pantu the name gets so many reactions that it has been hijacked before, but I will assume so for the sake of this comment. @High Speed, the comments that other bloggers make to Mushota are hate-filled, and I seem to recall some saying she should get raped or worse. Insults do not begin to describe some of the comments toward her, nor are they for good measure. She definitely makes comments to get a reaction, but the disgusting ad hominem attacks on her have no place in thoughtful debate. It reminds me of the recent Twitter controversy in England.

  1. Ba Kaseba please just stick to your cervical cancer work where you’re doing a commendable job. You will be bruised if you’re seen to be supporting such useless activities like homosexuality which will never have room in this great country of Zambia. If these people are paying you to speak indirectly on their behalf our spiritual antenna are very alert and we will not tolerate such.

    • Read again please!
      This calls for basic comprehension skills.
      She is talking about the spill over negative effects of homosexuality.
      I hope Manaseh Phiri has heard what his senior colleague is saying.
      Simply put, gay rights activism has overtaken HIV activism both in terms of prominence and funding. This puts women in the most vulnerable position. For the love of money, men in heterosexual relationships are tempted to engage in this vice and pass on the HIV infection to their wives. HIV is the number one risk factor for Cervical cancer and as such you can’t talk about cervical cancer without talking about HIV! The two go together!
      The first lady is spot on on this!
      Let those who have ears hear these words of wisdom from the best first lady we have ever had!

  2. “Dim wit” with an appropriate name, this is to educate you, HIV in sub-saharan Africa, INCLUDING ZAMBIA has been spread PREDOMINANTLY via HETEROSEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS!!

  3. BaZambia, you have a problem. Firstly in your set mind, you did not even make an attempt to read the First Lady’s contribution, which in my view, is spot on. Secondly, your claim that Zambia as a country is abiding by the principles of the Bible is misleading. We all see the hypocrisy in such a statement. While the Bible condemns gay/lesbian acts just like it condemns corruption, sex outside marriage, witchcraft, idol worship etc and our Lord Jesus Christ agrees with that, his approach is contrary to what you are advocating. He urges his followers to make the gospel known to such people and forgiveness. Criminalising the act and dragging people to gallows over this is not Christian. It is a religious measure as practised in Islam and the Roman church in the dark ages.

  4. Spot on first lady! Well spoken! For those who may have misunderstood her, the first lady is against homosexuality as it has a negative spill over to women’s health-HIV and uterine cervical cancer. She is right!

  5. Ba I have this to say.. Everyone can read between the lines of what the first lady said or is trying to push for. Before you even get excited about pushing such useless agendas, i suggest you start a campaign to change our laws that clearly don’t support homosexuality. Please start from there before you bring in what is and is not in the bible. My simple advise is if PF want to dare the people of Zambia by pushing this agenda, mark my words………………………… yes, i hope you know what those dots imply but if you don’t please carry on with your campaign and you will get it.

    • Its seems you have failed to comprehend what our first lady said. She isn’t pushing for laws that legalize homosexual life style. Dr Kaseba is a scientist trying to tackle the issue of HIV aids. The Gay community has grown in our country. These people are contributing a lot to the spread of HIV aids especially among our college boys and girls. Dr Kaseba wants us remove the stigma, talk freely about this gay issue so at to address its effects on the spread of HIV aids.

  6. ZAMBIANS PLEASE READ THIS.
    Our friends in their countries have laws which prohibit certain acts and have criminalised those acts. Why should it be a problem to criminalise acts contrary to our beliefs in our countries. Read the laws in the countries that are forcing us recognise gays.

    WIKIPEDIA
    In cultures that practice marital monogamy, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another.

    BIGAMY IS A CRIME IN MOST WESTERN COUNTRIES, and when it occurs in this context often neither the first nor second spouse is aware of the other.In countries that have bigamy laws, consent from a prior spouse makes no difference to the legality of the second marriage, which is usually considered void.

  7. ZAMBIANS PLEASE READ THIS

    WIKIPEDIA
    Most western countries do not recognize polygamous marriages, and consider bigamy a crime. Several countries also prohibit people from living a polygamous lifestyle. This is the case in some states of the United States where the criminalization of a polygamous lifestyle originated as anti-Mormon laws.

  8. According to feminist historian Sarah McDougall, the Christian European insistence on monogamy and its enforcement arose as a consequence of 16th Century Islamic incursions into Central Europe and the advent of European colonialism within the Americas, Africa and Asia, which exposed European Christians to cultures that practised polygamy. As a consequence, nominal Christian male bigamists were subjected to unprecedented harsh punishments, such as execution, galley servitude, exile, and prolonged imprisonment. McDougall argues that female bigamists were not as harshly punished due to women’s perceived inferiority and absence of moral agency.

    Now in Zambia and Africa in general when we criminalise gays ati Human Rigts. Malabishiiii. PLEASE NO GAYS FULL STOP.

  9. why is it that in most people’s minds gay means dude on dude and not chic on chic SEX?to the best of my understanding both men and female homosexuals are classified as gays but in zambia most of the time i hear talks about gay right and related issues they always say men having sex with men.i dont think that is right.i really think there are alot of female homosexuals in zambia just like there are men but for as long as the terms gay and homosexual remain complementary to dude on dude sex, i dont see zambia fighting this thing.it will be best to make people understand what the whole thing is.i think politicians and the church in zed have deliberately misinterpreted these terms to make people understand the evil nature of the thing.surely dude on dude sex is creepy but put the words right.

  10. Careful Kaseba soon you will be smashed if you start supporting abnormal behaviour reminiscent not even to animals. Dogs smarter than homos in my opinion. Kaseba is smarter than cervical cancer …or no its the other way round.

  11. Lusaka times please write our stories in simplest mean to acord chance to people who have not gone to colleage to understand, the issue of you repeating the same word three time in one story is not proffessional.

    Via dissapointed reader/Media Specialist

  12. Homosexuality is something the world can never run away from or avoid, let Zambians discuss this issue in depth, avoiding bringing it out in the open wont make it go away as todays world is moving at a fast rate, your child may be deep into it via various sources, Friends, internet, magazines news papers etc.
    No matter how uncomfortable it gets or how you may dislike it, better be well informed and equiped. Someone once told me that there is gayism in everyone of us just as every individual has a dark side or that small percentage of madness,in some it is numb and in others it is active, yes am uncomfortable about it but that does not mean that my girlfriend is too, so lets just face it and see how we deal with it, i bet it will be more rampant in poverty stricken countries.

  13. Thank you madam First Lady for standing up for the basic human rights of gays and lesbians. This article doesn’t mention it, but thank you also for calling for the end of discrimination based on sexual orientation (whether one is homosexual or heterosexual). Gay and lesbian Zambians have existed, will exist, and will continue to exist despite mainstream Zambian beliefs and biblical interpretations. Why? Because one’s sexual orientation is not a choice. Homosexuality is completely natural, just like some people are born infertile, or with birth defects, blue eyes, or freckled skin. Culture and the Bible need to take a back seat to human rights. Why? Because homosexuals are people and all people have rights, whereas beliefs and culture do not. It’s time for a change in Zambia towards…

  14. Yessssss! At last. Dear first Lady, your medical professionalism (backed by your prestigious position) is shining through!

    Thank you ba Mama for bringing an unpopular issue to the fore. I look forward to more courageous and forward-thinking initiatives from you.

  15. Well done First Lady. Way to go. and dont worry, zambians will never kill you nor chase you away. after all, they have failed miserably to hound out of office politicians who have continuously and blatantly stolen their money.
    to all those against her words, take a seat and face the music.

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