African leaders must strive to have HIV-free populations. Their energy must be channelled towards ensuring the health and wellbeing of all citizens.

It is unthinkable that many Africans continue to perish at the hand of this disease as government interventions are failing to curb its spread quickly enough.

Tanzanian president John Magufuli recently banned the wearing of miniskirts in that country. Magufuli has already been hailed as representing a new breed of progressive African leaders on account of the cost-cutting measures that he introduced across government after his election.

The new law has a noble aim, to lower the spread of HIV in Tanzania. This is related to Magufuli's claim that the wearing of miniskirts encourages the spread of HIV. But it has the unintended consequence of undermining women and distorting facts about the spread of HIV-Aids.

Until now, Magufuli was worthy of all the praise he's been getting. But his extreme views on what drives the spread of HIV-Aids must be condemned as they amount to blaming women for the spread of the pandemic.

Tanzania had already banned "twerking" - the dance that has been the cause of much controversy in many countries.

This series of bans exposes the patriarchal mentality of Tanzania's leadership. According to this logic, through their dances and styles of dress, women are responsible for the spread of HIV.

There is no scientific research that has shown that either twerking or wearing miniskirts leads to the spread of HIV. By 2013 Tanzania had 1.4 million people living with HIV. Given this reality, the government should be focusing on implementing scientific measures to lower the rate of infection instead of coming up with controversial measures that undermine women.

It is also important that the government adopts a strategy that addresses the behaviour of men and women rather than isolating women's conduct. Women do not act alone.

Men are lustful and are attracted to women who dance and are dressed in a particular manner. The blame cannot solely be placed on women.

Women in other countries wear bikinis and miniskirts yet these countries have low prevalence of HIV.

The government of Tanzania should rather embark on a massive health campaign about the spread of HIV, the use of condoms and the importance of sticking to one sexual partner.

Tanzania is sadly following in the footsteps of Gambia. Gambian president Yahya Jammeh declared Gambia an Islamic state but pledged to respect the rights of the Christian minority.

As part of this bent towards Islam, the Gambian government recently sought to impose dress restrictions on female public servants in that country, including Christians. The dress code consists of them wearing head scarves and covering their faces to discourage them wearing artificial hair and bleaching their skin.

Although Gambia withdrew the restrictions, owing to international pressure to respect and guarantee the freedom of Christians, women are being compelled to subject themselves to the law.

Women on the continent are under attack and their rights are being undermined by the pervasiveness of patriarchal mindsets across the continent. This must come to an end.

Siweya is the founder of Africa Unmasked and a national executive committee member of the ANCYL. She writes in her personal capacity.