Many African Men Fail to Get HIV Treatment

February 13, 2012

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, left, reacts as he is examined by a clinical nurse inside the 'Tutu Tester' mobile unit in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday Oct. 22, 2009. The Tutu Tester, is a mobile unit that test people for diabetes, obesity and HIV with results and counseling provided on site. New research shows while African men may get tested for HIV, they are much less likely than women to go for treatment.

A new study says men in sub-Saharan Africa are not accessing HIV/AIDS treatment nearly as often as women. That means many are dying prematurely. Researchers are calling for a more balanced approach to gender in fighting the epidemic.

Edward Mills has spent many years in Africa supervising HIV/AIDS treatment programs. He said it became obvious who was receiving antiretroviral drugs and who wasn’t.

“Whenever you walk into a busy clinic, it’s almost exclusively women and children. And there might be one or two men there, who appear to be reluctant to be there. They’re frequently brought by their wives. And I had wondered, well, where are all the men? Maybe they’re accessing a men’s only clinic or something like that. And after several years of observing this, I came around to discussing this with my colleagues and they say, no, no, this is it. These are the men who show up. And they’re frequently only the ones who are brought by their wives,” he said.