Juliette François, Director of Prevention, Information et Lutte contre le SIDA (PILS), (Prevention, Information and fight against HIV/AIDS), the only Mauritian Non Governmental Organisation which focuses on HIV/AIDS, confirms that even in Mauritius women are more vulnerable than men in contracting the disease in terms of emotional and sexual relationship. Mauritius is not different to other countries where man is more likely to have several partners than a woman and if the man is HIV positive, all her female partners will be infected. ?The mode of transmission through the semen can be fatal. A woman?s body is therefore more vulnerable than that of a man.?

But contrary to other Sub-Saharan countries, more women with HIV/AIDS go for treatment than men and yet there are still more stigmas attached to women.

PILS receives about 45 clients monthly and most of them are women. ?Most of our clients are the providers in the family and their husbands expect them to work although they are sick. They, therefore, encourage their wives to go for treatment and they stay at home expecting the wives to bring everything back to them. In the past we used to give financial assistance but now we give support in terms of groceries, clothes, books and counselling for children. It is only in very extreme cases that we give some financial assistance. We empower women to look for a job and to negotiate for safe sex. Unfortunately these women do not have ownership of their bodies.?

?We have two groups of female clients, and in these two groups 10% are drug addicts, 50% are sex workers, and among the remaining 40%, half are working in offices or factories and are the providers in the family. The other 20% are in abusive and dependent relationships with either alcoholic or violent husbands.?

?We do not ask husbands to come for treatment as we never ask clients how they have contracted the disease but rather if their husbands are aware that they are HIV positive.?

As Illicit drugs, sexwork and HIV&AIDS have a very strong correllation; PILS gives free condoms to sex workers either on their place of work or to those who follow treatment with them. ?It took us six to seven months to build a good relationship with them. We do not give them money to talk but instead make them understand how we value any information that they can give us. Our rapport is based on trust.?

Very often sex workers who are HIV positive are also on intravenous drugs, which makes it difficult for them to go on antiretroviral although this treatment is free in Mauritius. Dr Joy Backory, who is in charge of the HIV/AIDS Desk of the United Nations Office in Mauritius tells us that a person with hepatitis C and who is also HIV positive must be treated for his/her hepatitis before he/she can be put on antiretroviral. But if on top of that the person is drug addictive this complicates matters as treatment must be in three phases and can be very long. ?The person must be treated to get off drugs and it is only when he/she is completely cured that he /she can go on treatment for hepatitis and the last stage is antiretroviral.?

According to Francois, ?most sex workers who are drug addicts are HIV positive?. There is no nrehabilitation centre for women in Mauritius, let alone a rehabilitation centre for sex workers. Francois adds ?it is a well known fact that because of poverty, women share their needles more than men which means that the disease is being transmitted not only through unprotected sex but by contaminated needles. Our main concern now is harm reduction. We advise women to look after their body, to protect themselves by not sharing needles. But unfortunately we cannot give them needles nor tell them where to go for rehabilitation. There is an urgent need for a centre. ?

Need of a Ritter ?au féminin?

?HIV/AIDS is a community problem. There is now an injecting drug community in Mauritius and without being pessimistic, if we are not careful in less than five years we will be like the other Southern African countries. In Mauritius HIV/AIDS is on the rise because of drugs and not because of sexual behaviour. We can only give condoms. We are not allowed to give needles although we are here to protect intravenous drug users by giving counselling.?

According to Francois although the Government is doing a fantastic job as far as HIV/AIDS is concerned, ?in the long run it will cost the government more to treat HIV/AIDS than to treat drug problems. Women selling their bodies for drugs are on the rise and very often they have to sell their bodies to buy drugs for their partners as well.?

The problem is even worse in other social groups where there are even more stigmas attached to sufferers. ?Although our mantra is to keep confidentiality, professional women do not come to us for treatment, they go to Reunion Island. Most of the women who come to our organization are poor.?

With the excellent programme of parent to child transmission that Mauritius has put in place, there has been a sharp decrease of mothers infecting their babies. PILS is on the move everyday doing prevention campaign in prisons, hotels, schools, social centres, youth centres, offices, NGO and factories.

Although PILS? awareness campaign is working, people are still frightened. For them, AIDS means shame, punishment and death. ?People tend to think that if you wear a short skirt, you are bound to contract the disease as you are looking for trouble. We have to explain that it is not the short skirt but a girl can contract the disease from her infected partner, blood transfusion or even from her mother.?

Francois regrets that ?although the Mauritian media is doing a fantastic job in filtering down messages and projecting positive images, there are still some newspapers that are using people living with HIV/AIDS to increase sales. Journalists have a role to play in helping people who are HIV positive. There were two articles in the press recently that can do lots of damages. One was about prisoners who are HIV positive. Are these figures accurate? The other was on a HIV positive man whose sincerity we question. Journalists need to verify their information before publishing interviews. They need training to write on such a specialized and sensitive subject. The article even mentions a vaccine for AIDS which does not exist.?

The myth that sex workers get more money by not using condoms no longer stands, as clients are conscious of the problem and they themselves ask for condoms. ?Sex workers are also conscious how important it is to protect themselves?, adds Francois.

Sandra O?Reilley has become an icon in Mauritius. She moved a nation when she talked openly about her gang rape. Her determination has unveiled the sufferings of hundreds of rape victims. ?If we get one Sandra in PILS we will break so many taboos. We badly need a woman to come forward and speak openly about her HIV status.? When the brainchild of PILS, Nicolas Ritter, broke his silence on 24th November 2001, AIDS took another turn in Mauritius. He gave the disease a face. ?We need a woman who can say ?I am HIV positive and I have rights like any other human being. But women need the support of families even more than men and Ritter spoke openly about his HIV status because he had the backing of his parents. Men are now slowly coming out openly to talk about their status but unfortunately women do not come.?

?If a sex worker talks about her HIV status she will immediately lose clients because of the myth of sex workers and AIDS although she may be protecting herself,? said François. PILS badly needs a Ritter ?au feminin?.

Loga Virahsawmy