The Problem of HIV and AIDS in South Africa - Essay Example

? Cultural Factors and Interventions for HIV Treatment The problem of HIV/ AIDS has had a big impact on Africa and especially South Africa and East African countries. South Africa has the highest number of people infected with HIV in the world. It is estimated that 5.6 million people were living with HIV and AIDS in South Africa in 2009 (Avert). This number is higher than that of any other country in the world. In 2009, an estimated 310,000 South Africans died of AIDS. HIV prevalence is high at 17.8 percent for those who are aged 15-49. Alarming statistics also show that almost one in three women aged 25-29 and over a quarter of men aged 30-34 are living with HIV. Cape Town registers the highest number of HIV infection of children aged below the age of five. The scourge has left many children orphan and many households in poverty (Avert). This necessitated the country to take drastic measures to try and curb the spread of this disease. Many programs have been initiated by the government and the most notable one is the HIV counseling and testing campaign (HCT). This campaign has had a positive impact on the availability and uptake of HIV testing and treatment. Many factors come into play in South Africa that have contributed greatly to the problem of HIV and AIDS (Avert). These factors especially cultural factors have had a significant contribution to the spread of HIV and AIDS. In order to address this problem it is important to look deeper into these factors so as to design culturally appropriate remedies that would help in ensuring that the HIV and AIDS problem is addressed properly. Gender dynamics refers to the relationships and interactions between and among boys and girls, men and women in the society. These are informed by socio-cultural ideas about gender and the power relationships that define them. Depending on how genders dynamics are manifested, they can challenge or reinforce existing norms. Gender dynamics construct masculinity and femininity should mean. These basically describe a “real man” and a “real woman”. Societies are responsible for creating these differences. Gender disparities and double standards have widely been acknowledged as one of the most pervasive factor affecting behavior of the youth. Past research has indicated that boys experience comparatively greater social pressure than the girls to endorse gendered societal prescriptions such as the strongly endorsed health related beliefs that men are independent, self-reliant, strong and tough and are often socialized to engage in sexual activity so as to express their masculinity (Pradhan 64-65). The most dominant norms of masculinity that is, the most traditional beliefs about manhood adopted by men, predicted the highest level of risk taking and of involvement in behaviors such as sexual activity (Pradhan 64-65). The women on the other hand are gendered to be passive. Femininity to them is being a good wife and a good mother at that. Therefore they do not engage in risky sexual behaviors as their counterparts. This is what the society has made them believe as concerns femininity and therefore very few will go against this (Pradhan 64-65). In the book we see this young man Sizwe actually gendered in this way by the society. He has a number of women whom he has already slept with. To him to be a man is all about having wealth: which is evident from his ownership of the shop and having women apart from Nabiswa whom he is not sure if he will marry. Many men are also seen to exhibit this kind of behavior in this village (Steinberg 1-20). The resultant impact of gender dynamic s is power inequality with women being seen as weak and men being seen as stronger. With this in mind the men are able to forcefully have sexual intercourse with the women without their consent. This coupled with the irresponsible sexual behavior of men has put women at risk of getting HIV (Pradhan 64-65). This is because the men have multiple sexual partners and end up contracting the disease and spread it to their wives at home. The monogamous style that society brings up women does not encourage them to have multiple sexual partners as men and therefore this group is highly vulnerable to infections. Research shows that most women do not actually get the HIV virus from irresponsible sexual behavior but rather they get infected by their husbands. This is also the case in premarital relationships (Pradhan 66). Poverty is another factor that has contributed immensely to the problem of HIV and AIDS in Africa. Most of the people in sub-Saharan Africa live below the poverty line, surviving on less than a dollar a day. This poverty perpetuates the spread of HIV virus in a number of ways. The women who are poor and most of the time are not educated will sell sex in order that they get something to bring to the table for the many people that depend on them (Plessis & Conley 51-52 ). When these women engage in prostitution, first they lack knowledge on how to protect themselves from being infected. Secondly because of the economic power that the men have, the women do not have a say because all they need is money and it does not matter if they use protection or not. The men in most of these instances get their way on the women. This in turn raises the chances of these women contracting the virus (Plessis & Conley 51-52). When the people infected with HIV die they leave behind orphans who cannot take care of themselves in most cases. The shock of losing the bread winner in the family leaves behind the children trying to find ways of bridging the gap that has been created in the family. This makes the children to start looking for how to fend for themselves. The young girls end up going to the streets to find ways of taking care of themselves. This lands them at risk of acquiring the HIV virus at an early age (Plessis & Conley 53). The problem of poverty is also evident in this village. We are told of the high rate of unemployment which signifies the extent of poverty in the village. Sizwe is the only person around that owns a small retail shop that gets him going. This state is perpetuated by HIV/AIDS that has left many people in the area in poverty. Many parents have also died in this village leaving their children in poverty and thus this state continues to play out in the story (Steinberg, 35-60). The third cultural factor is traditional beliefs held by the people in the village and Africa as a whole. Many people in Africa believe that HIV and AIDS is not a disease. They believe that it is a form of witchcraft that other people who wish ill of an individual have done so that an individual dies and they take over his property (Steinberg, 2008). Some believe that HIV is a demon that comes to suck people’s blood and leave them thin before they eventually die. These demons are also believed to have been sent by people who wish ill of others and therefore want them dead (Kalichan & Simbayi 574). The second belief is that HIV and AIDS is a curse on an individual. They believe that this curse is got from the individuals ancestors as a form of punishment for engaging in promiscuous activity. They do not believe that it can be a disease but rather a curse that will run in the family’s entire generation for having displeased the ancestors. Another belief held by people is that HIV can be treated with traditional remedies and this stems from the belief that HIV is not a disease but rather a curse or a demon that can be chased away by incantations and other forms of traditional treatments. Another belief is that having sex with a virgin will cure the disease. This has led to many children being raped in Africa because of this belief and thus spreading the virus to the young children (Kalichan & Simbayi 574). These are the remedies that they get from traditional doctors who advise them to look for virgin girls who are still minors in order to cure themselves. Another belief is that the HIV virus is Gods punishment for living a promiscuous life. This belief makes people not to seek treatment with the belief that they are already dead and therefore no amount of healing can remove the disease except for spiritual healing. This has made many people infected with the virus to attend church fellowships with the belief that they will be healed (Kalichan & Simbayi 575). Many people in Lusikisiki also believe that HIV and AIDS is not a disease but rather witchcraft. The text tells us of the Xhosa people who do not go for treatment because of the belief that HIV is a kind of bewitchment, something that is sent by the ancestors whom an individual has offended or those people who wish you ill. This belief makes these people not to go for treatment but rather visit the witch doctors to try and provide solutions to the problem (Steinberg 50-70). The fourth problem is racism. This is a big problem especially in South Africa because of the long colonial rule and discrimination that was witnessed in all sectors of the economy. People believe that the white people want to finish them and therefore brought this disease so as to reduce their population. In the book for example the people believe that the needle that the nurses and doctors use in the treatment when they draw blood from a person as the primary mechanism by which the virus is spread (Steinberg 50-70). They believe that the whites took away their farmland and minerals and want also to take away their lives through spreading the disease to the black population. Another thing is that they believe that the whites want to finish them through the disease b basically attacking their reproductive system. They ask themselves if there is any better way to eliminate a population than attacking a man potency and ability to procreate (Steinberg 80). This shows the extent to which racism plays out in this issue of HIV and AIDS making people avoid for go for testing and treatment. It is important that before any preventive measures are taken, the community is involved in dialogue. Dialogue is important as it will help generate views and opinions about the problem of HIV and AIDs and how the people view it. They will provide their perspective on the problem of HIV and AIDS, their beliefs and what they think is important to help them address the problem of HIV and AIDS. Many programs addressing cultural aspects of HIV and AIDs fail because they follow the top down approach of communicating messages to the people (Jennings ). They do not involve the people in designing the content of the message. Therefore they end up conveying culturally inappropriate content to the people. The people fail to accept the messages simply because they were not involved in the process. Like all social change programs a participatory approach should be used that involves the people. The community’s ideas should be sought and they should be involved in designing the messages. Secondly the program will be sustainable because the people will feel good participating in something that the helped established rather than on something that was imposed on them (Paul Castelloe). The second step is to examine the historical and sociological factors that put the community at risk of HIV infection. Addressing the problem of HIV and AIDS is not an easy task especially in native communities. It will involve the health and psychosocial effects of many other factors such as homophobia and discrimination, poverty and fear as is the case for Lusikisiki. It is important that the HIV and AIDS program understand s and responds to these historical and social issues and barriers. In this way people will be more willing to go for testing and receive treatment than when this is done without an understanding of the underlying causes of HIV and AIDS in the community (NNAAPC). The third step is to understand the epidemiology of HIV and AIDS in the community. Understanding the ways a disease progresses through a population will help the health practitioners in designing an effective intervention. It is important to understand how the people in the community become affected and spread HIV. This is important because it will give the intervention program an idea where to begin from (NNAAPC). This can also help as it will target specific people within the communities with messages specially designed for them to change their behaviors, go for testing or treatment for those who are already infected (NNAAPC). In conclusion, the problem of HIV and AIDS has had a big impact on Africa especially South Africa which is hardest hit. Many cultural factors have continued to make HIV to spread across the continent. These factors as shown above can be prevented if the right approaches are taken and people educated on the value of testing and treatment and the need to stop their cultural beliefs and practices. It has been seen that community participation and involvement in decision making are key to ensure that people actually understand HIV initiatives and take action concerning their health. Works Cited Avert. HIV an AIDS in South Africa. 2011. 11 December 2011 . Jennings, Ray. "Participatory Development as New Paradigm: The Transition of Development Professionalism." 2000. USAID. 11 December 2011 . Kalichan, SC and L Simbayi. "Traditional beliefs about the cause of AIDS and AIDS related Stigma in South Africa." AIDS Care (2004): 16(5):572-580. NNAAPC. HIV Prevention online toolkit for native communities. 2011. 11 December 2011 . Paul Castelloe, Thomas watson, Craig White. "Participatory Change: An integrative Approach to Community Practice." Journal of Community Practice (2002): 7-32. Plessis, Pierre Du and Lloyd Conley. "Childrenand Poverty in South africa: the Right to social security." Education Research and Review (2007): 2(4) :49-59. Pradhan, M. "Real man and Real Woman: Understanding the gender dynamics in Orissa.India." Research and Pracice in Social Sciences (2010): 6(2):62-69. Steinberg, Jonny. Sizwe’s Test: A Young Man’s Journey through Africa’s AIDS Epidemic. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008. Read More