A little blurb on HIV prevention

As far as HIV education, Peru offers quite a few challenges. First of all, it is a culture dominated by catholicism and machismo. Catholicism looks poorly on any kind of obstruction to baby-making, because children are a "gift from God," even if they are brought into the world by a single 14 year old girl without education or the hope of getting a job that would secure the future of her child. As far as machismo goes, men hate condoms and men control the world down here. So.. most men won't wear them, are embarrassed to wear them, and criticize the woman that expects them to wear them. Well the woman will bow down to that man being that he is superior to her and she is obligated to obey. Also, most men will get enraged when you question their cleanliness, i.e. no one gets tested because they are convinced they are clean or because they are in denial and don't want to know one way or the other. Entonces... no one wears condoms.As far as fidelity goes, it is quite the interesting oxymoron. Despite the fact that Catholicism promotes the sanctity of marriage, the concept of marriage is a little different here than in the states. Unfortunately, I am not exaggerating when I say that almost all men cheat on the their wives. It is a natural course of events, especially in the rural areas, for a man to create a family, then leave his family to start another one in the same town or neighboring village. Or, men will maintain their families and cheat with other women. The women know, and contributing to a vicious cycle, let it slide. So, if you pair that with the absence of condoms, you can see why STDs and HIV are on a steady rise here in Peru. In Peace Corps, we opt for the ABC motto to deal with HIV prevention: Abstinence (for the Catholics but we all know kids still have sex), Boda (wedding in Spanish, meant to mean Fidelity), and Condoms. We get groups together and give interactive talks about HIV prevention, crossing our fingers that it sticks. There is also an option to get a youth leadership group together and teach them, and in turn have them become health promoters who go into their schools and teach their peers. Let me know if you any questions!