hiv/aids the politics of disease and culture in africa
Post on 19-Dec-2015
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HIV/AIDSThe Politics of Disease
and Culture in Africa
What is culture?
a system of interrelated values active enough to influence and condition perception, judgment, communication, and behavior in a given society
Why is it Important?
• Culture and society play a role in sickness and healing
• Language plays an important role in the understanding of illness concepts
• One’s cultural belief system influences one’s social roles and relationships when one is ill
• Medical practice is a cultural production, particularly with respect to the focus on the body rather than the contexts that define and shape the body
Culture and African contexts of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support
The Trouble with the ABC Approach
How it works
• Abstain from Sex
• Be Faithful to one uninfected partner
• Condom use
shortcomings
• relationships and expectations
• cultural identity
• cultural empowerment
• A failure to recognize the role of the collective rather than that of the individual in health behavior
Relationships and expectations
How do African cultures define theroles of persons and their expectations in family and community relationships?
Personal actions are examined as functions of broader social cultural contexts.
Cultural empowerment
• “Culture” is often represented as a barrier and “empowerment” as strength.
• Culture as an instrument of empowerment?• Goal of cultural empowerment: Ensure that an
intervention is developed with the idea of not only the bad in mind, but to also to promote the good and recognize the unique or even indifferent aspects of culture.
Cultural Identity
The cultural identity domain helps determine the point of entry
Some Success Stories
TASO• THE AIDS SUPPORT
ORGANIZATION
TASO founders
reach
ed very
few
people,
but for e
ach of th
e ones
they
reach
ed, th
ey m
ade a
differe
nce in
their liv
es.
TASO, HIV/AIDS and Poverty
High levels of unemployment and an inadequate welfare system have led to widespread poverty, which renders people more vulnerable to contracting HIV
Major Factors
• The daily struggle for survival overrides any concerns people living in poverty might have about HIV.
• Strategies adopted by people made desperate by poverty, e.g. migration in search of work and “survival” sex-work, are conducive to the spread of HIV/AIDS.
• People living in deprived communities where death through violence or disease is commonplace tend to become fatalistic
• Poverty is generally associated with low levels of formal education and literacy. Knowledge about HIV and how to prevent it, is subsequently low in poor communities.
A vicious cyclefor poor people
Poverty deepens
Ability to protect against further economic losses decreases
THE CYCLE OF POVERTY AND ILLNESS
Vulnerability to disease increases
A vicious cyclefor poor people
Poverty deepens
Ability to protect against further economic losses decreases
How TASO Helps BREAK THE CYCLE OF POVERTY
Vulnerability to disease increases
Medical CarePsychosocial Support
Education