wfn.org | FEATURE - Glimmer of hope in Zambian AIDS disaster

["News News" <NEWS@elca.org>]

LUSAKA, Zambia/GENEVA, 7 March 2000 (lwi) - I am just back from St.
Anne's graveyard. We buried Elizabeth, one of my cousins. She was 22
years old. For the last two years, she has not been well at all.
Frequent bouts of malaria, coupled with rashes on various parts of her
body had made her suffer terribly. Her husband, Masauso Nyirenda died
three years ago of tuberculosis. Their only child Precious, after
suffering from malaria and recurring diarrhea passed away at the age of
six months. HIV/AIDS has wiped out my cousin's family.

But these are not the only victims of this killer disease, for which no
cure has yet been found. My neighborhood has experienced so many
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) related deaths in the last
five years that to a certain extent I feel very sad and sometimes rather
tired of attending so many funerals. At St. Anne's graveyard one is sure
to find several new graves, with flowers and wreaths still fresh. I feel
greater pain especially when I realize that people are generally not yet
careful about their sexual behavior. Various surveys here have shown
that irresponsible sexual behavior stimulated by rampant beer drinking
is the main factor in widespread HIV infection. There are other reasons
but of lesser dimension.

One can say there are no reliable statistics about the rate of HIV/AIDS
infection in Zambia. But according to a relatively credible estimate, 30
to 35 percent of the adult population is HIV positive. Against this sad
background, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for World
Service (DWS) program in Zambia has begun a wide scale HIV/AIDS
prevention campaign through its Rural Community Development and
Motivation (RCDM) project.

Project officers assist the members of the local community to organize
their own Community AIDS Prevention Committees (CAPCOM). The purpose of
these committees is to carry out awareness building campaigns through
lectures, drama and sketches in the villages, churches and schools. The
message given at these activities is - Change your Behavior to prevent
AIDS.

The traditional leaders, the custodians of culture and traditions, are
also involved in these campaigns so that they may become instrumental in
changing and eradicating harmful traditional practices.

The HIV/AIDS prevention campaign makes me very hopeful that through the
CAPCOM things will change for the better, although at a slow pace. For
example, nowadays one finds more and more people buying condoms with the
understanding that this device will protect them against sexually
transmitted infections. Although I know we have a long way to go in
changing the general behavior of people as far as sexual relationships
are concerned, I see a glimmer of hope because I have at least begun to
observe a change in the right direction.

(This article was contributed by Ellen Nyirenda, the technical adviser
for health nutrition and family planning at the LWF/RCDM in Zambia.)

(The LWF is a global communion of 128 member churches in 70 countries
representing nearly 59.5 million of the world's 63.1 million Lutherans.
Its highest decision-making body is the Assembly held every six or seven
years. Between Assemblies, the LWF is governed by a 49-member Council,
which meets annually, and by its Executive Committee. The LWF
secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

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Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/