Clive Simpkins
The communications, marketing and health sectors of=20 countries around the world, particularly in Africa, are=20 failing the most critical test of their expertise. Not=20 simply because it’s a complex one, but because it’s an=20 unpopular one and affects “other people”. That problem=20 is Aids awareness.
Latest World Health Organisation statistics indicate=20 that sub-Saharan Africa, home to roughly 10 percent of=20 the world’s population, has about 70 percent of the=20 world’s HIV and Aids victims.
In South Africa’s neighbouring states, health=20 authorities, basing their figures on representative=20 samples from ante-natal or sexually transmitted disease=20 (STD) clinics, report a minimum HIV infection rate of=20 20 percent. This figure is regarded as conservative,=20 because significant numbers of HIV or full-blown Aids=20 cases go unreported.
Kwa-Zulu/Natal continues to lead the provinces in South=20 Africa, with what is believed to be a 21 percent HIV=20 infection rate.
Politicians continue to engage in petty squabbles.=20 Business people bemoan the damage to the “economic=20 engine room of Africa” that such squabbles cause. Yet=20 the engine is running on a leaking gas tank, caused by=20 an ever-increasing HIV rate which threatens to cut off=20 the very labour force required to keep the engine=20
Those involved in community Aids education know that=20 the challenges of Africa are unique. We are dealing=20 with tradition, suspicion and superstition which make=20 it extraordinarily difficult to alter sexual behaviour.
One dear old man recently said he refuses to use=20 condoms because it’s the equivalent of, “tying up my=20 children in a sack”. He uses the withdrawal method,=20 which of course, is no protection from HIV.=20
Our challenge is to educate within the framework of=20 these sometimes tragically funny misconceptions. Pooh- poohing or deriding them doesn’t invalidate them for=20 the people who believe them. We need to find and use=20 education mechanisms that cut through the clutter of=20 such ill-informed thinking.
Recently, an organisation sent a 24-year-old woman into=20 rural tribal areas to speak to tribal elders — males=20 of 55 and upward — on Aids, STDs, family planning and,=20 specifically, vasectomy. I am stunned that they can=20 expect chauvinists hailing from such a tradition to=20 discuss their testes with a female young enough to be a=20
Among organisations dealing with HIV and Aids in=20 Africa, the petty politicking, nepotism, bickering,=20 rivalry and bitchiness is as bad as in competing=20 theatre companies.
Government health departments are perceived as=20 intractable, out-of-touch bureaucracies. Non- governmental organisations are perceived — often=20 legitimately — as fat-cat, tokenist pretenders to the=20 health-care crown. Instead of education efforts being=20 used synergistically, they become fragmented by=20
Where is the big-hearted and big-minded person who will=20 pull all these strings together so they play the same=20 tune before we have no country or health care system=20