Conflicts, gender-based violence and the ramifications for HIV and AIDS

Abstract

This article attempts to contextuolise gender-based violence in relation to conflicts with special mention to conflicts on the African continent. Gender-based violence is framed within the oedipal complex of the dominance and submission model whereby dominance is asserted through violence. This model is also used to frame the context of conflicts as a masculine construction. Furthermore, the article highlights the causes and consequences of gender-based violence with regard to responses for psychosocial and medical treatment in the restoration and rehabilitation of post-conflict societies. Gender-based violence in the context of conflicts has serious ramifications for HIV and AIDS. Incubation periods for the HI virus are decreased when it is coupled together with psychosocial trauma and malnutrition. Therefore, gender-based violence and HIV and AIDS have serious implications in the context of conflicts due to adequate responses in the absence of rule of law and infrastructure to mete out treatment.