Is the spreading of Aids only a matter of access to drug?
Although the access to drugs is a key issue, the education of doctors
about their responsibility, to use their experience in order to redesign a
preventive campain linked to local discourse and representation of gender
issues in the Aids epidemic is an urgency. I have given a seminar to 50
medical doctors for a few years in Brussels on health and development
issues, and the method we have chosen is ethical narrative. From the
stories they tell about the spreading of Aids, we can see that it is not
only due to lack of medication but inadequate representation of Aids, that
place medical doctors in Africa in conflicts of interest between
preserving societal values or being actors of social change by helping
women defend or be conscious of their reproductive rights. If this social
phenomena is not addressed the access to drugs issue will remain.
For most africans Aids is not yet a disease that can be treated by drugs, it is a malediction or a religious punishment but the main
anthropological issue is the perception that women are responsible for
it, so that infected man can only look for younger women who by being
virgins are not only less dangerous but supposed to liberate them from the
disease. It is urgent to convince African medical doctors that defending
women rights to be protected from contamination, by informing them of the
status of their husband or future husband, is not choosing a culture of
colonialism against their own but simply being responsible carers. Before
promising "distributing drugs to all" we should totally rethink prevention
by starting from understanding local representations of aids and have
the courage, with local women, to fight against perverse representations of
the disease.
Rapid Response:
Is the spreading of Aids only a matter of access to drug?
Although the access to drugs is a key issue, the education of doctors
about their responsibility, to use their experience in order to redesign a
preventive campain linked to local discourse and representation of gender
issues in the Aids epidemic is an urgency. I have given a seminar to 50
medical doctors for a few years in Brussels on health and development
issues, and the method we have chosen is ethical narrative. From the
stories they tell about the spreading of Aids, we can see that it is not
only due to lack of medication but inadequate representation of Aids, that
place medical doctors in Africa in conflicts of interest between
preserving societal values or being actors of social change by helping
women defend or be conscious of their reproductive rights. If this social
phenomena is not addressed the access to drugs issue will remain.
For most africans Aids is not yet a disease that can be treated by drugs, it is a malediction or a religious punishment but the main
anthropological issue is the perception that women are responsible for
it, so that infected man can only look for younger women who by being
virgins are not only less dangerous but supposed to liberate them from the
disease. It is urgent to convince African medical doctors that defending
women rights to be protected from contamination, by informing them of the
status of their husband or future husband, is not choosing a culture of
colonialism against their own but simply being responsible carers. Before
promising "distributing drugs to all" we should totally rethink prevention
by starting from understanding local representations of aids and have
the courage, with local women, to fight against perverse representations of
the disease.
M Baum
Competing interests:
none
Competing interests: No competing interests