HIV/AIDS in South Africa

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Today we attended a lecture at the National Bahá’í Centre that was given by a public health nurse named Abdia. Abdia was speaking on the subject of HIV/AIDS in South Africa. She was one of a small number of health professionals who had formed The Bahá’í Health Agency of South Africa (BHASA). The BHASA was an organization that the late Dr. Shamam Bakshandegi had hoped to form. In 1994 Dr. Bakhshandegi was one of the Bahá’ís who were killed in Ciskei. Other health professionals eventually formed the BHASA as a memorial to the young dentist’s concerns for the health of the people of South Africa. We had for some time believed that we needed to know more about the subject of HIV/AIDS, particularly as the disease is so much more prevalent in Africa. Abdia initially asked us a series of question that would serve as a baseline for our understanding, or should I say lack of understanding, regarding the disease. She then proceeded to define the disease and talked about the stages that it goes through in its maturation. This was followed by a series of explanations as to how the disease could, or would, be contracted. I say, “could or would” because the disease is by itself not very hearty. There are certain activities in which the disease when exposed to light or air for any length of time will likely not survive, such as in tears or saliva. The infection rate for blood or semen is much higher.

The most amazing aspects of this disease are its statistics. Currently there are an estimated 42 million people in the world who are HIV/AIDS infected. This includes approximately 1.5 million in North America and an astounding 29.4 million in Africa. Some estimates are much higher. During the period from 2002 to 2010, the average life expectancy in Africa will go from 48 years of age to 37. The greatest percentage of those affected will be women. This is the result of the fact that the female anatomy will have a more prolonged contact with the disease than that of males during sexual contact, and it is culturally more likely that one man will infect several women than the other way around. Currently, the greatest infection level in South Africa can be found in the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN) where 36.2% of the population is infected, of these 26% of women in KZN have the disease. The Western Cape Province is the lowest, with a rate of 8.7%. For those of us living in Gauteng Province, the rate is 29.4%, the majority of which are black residents. In passing traditionally black cemeteries, one becomes aware of many recent graves. A friend of ours from KZN has indicated that in the city of Pietermaritzburg (population 457,000) there are now over 300 funeral service businesses.

The government of South Africa has been slow to acknowledge these statistics and only recently has stopped being in a state of public denial. Several years ago when the governments of Africa were first exposed to the reality of the disease, various countries responded with different strategies. South Africa began an education program involving teens that were already sexually active. The result was the loss of almost an entire generation of young people. It is currently estimated that today’s sexually active teens in South Africa will not be alive to see the World Cup Soccer Tournament scheduled for 2010 in this country. On the other hand, the small nation of Uganda began its education program with elementary school children who grew up understanding the consequences of their actions and the effects of that disease. The result was a drop from one of the highest infection rates on the continent to a single digit percentage that astounded the world. There has been some recidivism in that rate as the policies have since changed, but the example still stands.

What is truly unfortunate is the belief on the part of some Africans that the HIV/AIDS disease is one more creation on the part of whites to exterminate them. Considering the history of this country, one can understand this belief. Many members of the black population have turned to their own traditional healers for remedies rather than trusting western medicine. There was even a member of the audience who believed strongly that the white man’s solution to the white man’s HIV/AIDS pandemic could not be trusted. The only solution to be found was in the more sensitive and trustworthy remedies of black traditional medicine. The lecture ended with us knowing much more about HIV/AIDS and an understanding of the monumental task facing South Africa and the continent.

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