AIDS and African cultural traditions

health — By Bob Riel on November 21, 2006 at 12:36 pm

For years now, those on the front lines of the fight against AIDS in Africa have focused on the most traditional means of transmitting the disease. Now, though, there is evidence that AIDS may also be spread through some cultural traditions, such as local healing methods, tribal body markings and even child care practices. The NY Times has a story on the topic in this morning’s paper.

As researchers spend more time studying Africa’s overwhelming pediatric AIDS problem, they are finding that the routes of transmission may be different than in the industrialized countries, and that strategies for preventing the disease’s spread must be adapted to local realities.

In some instances, the culprit is repeated use of one blade or medical instrument …

A 2004 study in the journal Tropical Doctor by Dr. Etete J. Peters at the University of Calabar in southeastern Nigeria concluded that there was “a serious risk inherent in the practices of Nigerian traditional healers” because of “the continuous usage of unsterilized instruments and cross contamination of patients’ blood and body fluid in their practices.” …

In much of rural Cameroon, tiny scars are made to identify members of different ethnic groups, with large numbers of children scarred simultaneously. … If just one child in a village had H.I.V., a common blade could spread the virus to dozens who come after him. The same is true for group circumcisions.

And, in other cases, the problem is simply a local child-rearing tradition…

Another traditional practice that government officials acknowledge could be spreading H.I.V. is communal breast-feeding, the norm in many rural villages.

Polygamy is legal in Cameroon, and a chieftain might have 30 or 40 wives, Mr. Biatcha said, because wealthy men routinely marry the wives of male relatives who have died. It is common for the wives – or even friends – to help out by nursing each other’s infants. In fact, it is an essential service if a mother has to go to work or take a trip into the city.