African
Journals Online
African Journal of AIDS Research
Volume 1 Issue 2 (2002)
African Journal of AIDS Research 1 (2) 2002, 87–95
©2002 NISC Pty Ltd, www.nisc.co.za
On the virgin cleansing myth: gendered bodies, AIDS and
ethnomedicine Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala
Anthropology Programme, University of Natal, Durban, South
Africa
e-mail: [email protected]
The belief that HIV/AIDS can be cured as a result of having
sex with a virgin has been identified as a possible factor in the
rape of babies and children in South Africa. While the prevalence
of this myth has been a matter of concern in local communities
for some time, there have been recent attempts to discern the
extent to which this belief is exacerbating perceived increases
in child rape and the rate of new HIV infections nationwide. This
article attempts to reveal the systematic logic upon which is
based the idea of `virgin cleansing' as a therapeutic response to
HIV/AIDS amongst the Zulu. Based on ethnographic research in
several peri-urban settlements of KwaZulu-Natal province, key
aspects of ethnomedical knowledge associated with notions of
`dirt' and women's bodies are examined along with the metaphors
that inform local interpretations of HIV/AIDS. The author argues
that closer attention paid to the shaping influence of cultural
schemas are critical to better understanding belief-behaviour
linkages in the context of rape and AIDS.
Keywords: ethnomedicine, virgin cleansing, rape,
HIV/AIDS, South Africa
African Journal of AIDS Research 1 (2) 2002, 97–101
©2002 NISC Pty Ltd, www.nisc.co.za
Assessment of behavioural risk factors for HIV/AIDS in
selected target groups in and around Addis Ababa and Nazareth
cities, Ethiopia
Teshome Nedi1, Mehret Yerdaw1*
and Fikre Enquoselassie2
1 Department of Pharmacology, School of
Pharmacy, Addis Ababa University, PO Box 1176, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
2 Department of Community Health, Faculty
of Medicine, Addis Ababa University, POBox 1176, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
* Corresponding author, e-mail: [email protected]
A stratified cross-sectional survey was conducted on 2 278
people residing in and around Addis Ababa and Nazareth cities to
assess the behavioural risk factors in HIV/AIDS in selected
target groups from August 2000 to December 2000. The target
groups, consisting of students, urban residents, farmers, and
commercial sex workers, were interviewed using pre-tested
questionnaires including indicators such as age, sex, educational
and occupational status, sexual practice, preventive measures,
condom use, etc. The findings revealed that 116 (32.6%) of the
sex workers, 37 (21.5%) of the farmers, 33 (12%) of the students
and 45 (11.3%) of the urban residents had started sexual
intercourse between the ages of 13–15 years. The mean age at
the time of sexual commencement for all respondents was 18.2 ±
3.1 SD years. Among those who had already started sexual
intercourse, 766 (63.7%) respondents had non-regular partners. Of
the total respondents only 813 (36.2%) were using condoms while
the remaining were opting for either abstinence (674 (30%)) or
one-to-one sexual relationship (885 (39.4%)) for prevention of
HIV/AIDS. Ten (32.3%) of the farmers, 32 (19.8%) of the urban
residents, 34 (17.5%) of the students and 33 (9.3%) of the sex
workers were using condoms occasionally. The findings suggest
that a well-coordinated campaign against the disease should be
undertaken by targeting those who are at high risk. Condom use
should also be promoted especially among the youth who seem to be
engaged in sexual intercourse with multiple partners.
Keywords: age at sexual commencement, condom use,
preventive measures, sexual practice
African Journal of AIDS Research 1 (2) 2002, 103–110
©2002 NISC Pty Ltd, www.nisc.co.za
HIV/AIDS in South Africa: varing for vulnerable children
H Loening-Voysey
University Community Partnerships, University of
Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, South Africa
e-mail: [email protected],
[email protected]
South Africa currently has the fastest growing HIV/AIDS
pandemic in the world. Efforts to manage the plight of children
affected by HIV/AIDS have however been thwarted by two ubiquitous
factors — poverty and inefficient state services.
Caregivers, who are generally not public advocates for children's
rights, disguise the state's negligence to respect, fulfill and
protect children's rights.
This paper suggests that the caring for HIV/AIDS affected
children in South Africa needs to go beyond looking for willing
and available members in the community to take on this
responsibility. A developmental approach to addressing disparity,
forming policies and implementing programmes could help in
curtailing the effects of the pandemic.
Keywords: civil society, non-profit sector, response to
HIV/AIDS
African Journal of AIDS Research 1 (2) 2002, 111–124
©2002 NISC Pty Ltd, www.nisc.co.za
Determinants of individual AIDS risk perception: knowledge,
behavioural control and social influence
Laura Bernardi
Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Doberaner
Strasse 114, 18057 Rostock, Germany
e-mail: [email protected]
In sub-Saharan Africa an almost universal awareness of the
serious consequences of AIDS and of the sexual transmission of
HIV co-exists together with a reluctance in adopting consequent
preventive measures, in the form of protected sexual intercourse.
The socio-psychological literature on health-related behaviour
emphasises the perception of being at risk of HIV infection as
being one of the necessary conditions for preventive behaviour to
be adopted. Analysing data from the Kenya Diffusion and
Ideational Change (KDIC) Project, this paper investigates the
determinants of the reported degree of risk perception of getting
infected by HIV. In particular, adopting a social interaction
approach, we argue that individual risk perception is shaped by
social network influences. We use information on ego-centred
networks in which individuals are involved in conversations about
the risk of getting infected by HIV. We are able to show that the
importance of AIDS related knowledge and behavioural factors
risks to be mis-estimated if one neglects the role of
individuals' reciprocal influences. We conclude that risk
perception is as much a product of individual characteristics and
behaviour as it is a collective feeling shared among interacting
individuals. Results suggest that in our study men are more
susceptible than women to network influence.
Keywords: Kenya, social networks
African Journal of AIDS Research 1 (2) 2002, 125–142
©2002 NISC Pty Ltd, www.nisc.co.za
AIDS, individual behaviour and the unexplained remaining
variation
Alison Katz
15 Chemin du Passeur, 1219 Aire, Switzerland
e-mail: [email protected]
From the start of the AIDS pandemic, individual behaviour has
been put forward, implicitly or explicitly, as the main
explanatory concept for understanding the epidemiology of HIV
infection and in particular for the rapid spread and high
prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa. This has had enormous
implications for the international response to AIDS and has
heavily influenced public health policy and strategy and the
design of prevention and care interventions at national,
community and individual level.
It is argued that individual behaviour alone cannot possibly
account for the enormous variation in HIV prevalence between
population groups, countries and regions and that the unexplained
remaining variation has been neglected by the international AIDS
community.
Biological vulnerability to HIV due to seriously deficient
immune systems has been ignored as a determinant of the high
levels of infection in certain populations. This is in sharp
contrast to well proven public health approaches to other
infectious diseases.
In particular, it is argued that poor nutrition and
co-infection with the myriad of other diseases of poverty
including tuberculosis, malaria, leishmaniasis and parasitic
infections, have been neglected as root causes of susceptibility,
infectiousness and high rates of transmission of HIV at the level
of populations.
Vulnerability in terms of non-biological factors such as
labour migration, prostitution, exchange of sex for survival,
population movements due to war and violence, has received some
attention but the solutions proposed to these problems are also
inappropriately focused on individual behaviour and suffer from
the same neglect of economic and political root causes.
As the foundation for the international community's response
to the AIDS pandemic, explanations of HIV/AIDS epidemiology in
terms of individual behaviour are not only grossly inadequate,
they are highly stigmatising and may in some cases, be racist.
They have diverted attention from poverty and powerlessness as
root causes of vulnerability to infection and as such they are a
waste of scarce resources.
A return to a basic needs approach to all the diseases of
poverty is nothing more than proven public health wisdom and
experience. A sustainable and meaningful response to AIDS is
simultaneously a sustainable and meaningful response to all the
diseases of poverty.
The obstacles to the adoption of this approach are economic
and political and must be confronted at the level of
international financial institutions, the globalisation of
neoliberal economic systems, the growing power imbalances between
and within nations and the undermining of democracy and national
sovereignty.
An alternative strategy for AIDS and the other diseases of
poverty would build on macroeconomic reforms for a fair, rational
and sustainable international economic order so that
democratically elected governments may meet their people's basic
needs, including health, without external interference.
Keywords: AIDS, behaviour, gender, macroeconomics,
population susceptibility, promiscuity, poverty, racism, social
justice
African Journal of AIDS Research 1 (2) 2002, 143–149
©2002 NISC Pty Ltd, www.nisc.co.za
Preventing HIV infections in children and adolescents in
sub-Saharan Africa through integrated care and support
activities: a review of the literature
Joseph J Amon
Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, Uniformed
Services University of the Health Sciences, 4301 Jones Bridge
Road, Bethesda MD 20814, United States of America
e-mail: [email protected]
Sub-Saharan Africa has been hit harder by the HIV/AIDS
pandemic than any other region of the world, and children under
age eighteen represent one-third of all new HIV infections
occurring there annually. While HIV prevention efforts targeting
youth are well established, few prevention programmes provide
comprehensive care and support services. One reason for this is
that prevention messages are often targeted only at older
adolescents, and care and support activities typically emphasise
the needs of younger children. By expanding prevention activities
to younger children, and expanding care and support activities to
older adolescents, more holisitic, and truly integrated
programmes can be developed which address the common factors
which make children of any age particularly vulnerable to HIV
infection, namely: inadequate access to health care and unstable
familial and social environments. This paper reviews evidence of
the potential impact of care and support activities on HIV
prevention among youth, and presents a conceptual framework for
the development of comprehensive, effective, integrated HIV/AIDS
prevention and care programmes tailored to the specific needs of
youth.
Keywords: AIDS, intervention, psycho-social support
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