AIDS, sex and condoms: African healers and the reinvention of tradition in Zaire
Schoepf, B.G.
Medical Anthropology 14(2-4): 225-242
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0145-9740 PMID: 1297899 DOI: 10.1080/01459740.1992.9966073Document Number: 335108
Anthropologists can make an important contribution to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) prevention programs through their knowledge of the cultural construction of sexuality, procreation, gender roles, and behaviors such as condom use. To illustrate such anthropologically informed action research on AIDS, a study was undertaken on the role traditional healers could play in promoting safer sex practices in Zaire. Condom promotion campaigns have met with limited success in Zaire given cultural views of semen as a vital force and the association of condoms with prostitution and infidelity. Traditional healers have a potential role as change agents in AIDS prevention given their authority to urge senior members of kin groups to relax their objections to condoms, the fact they are often consulted about sexual matters, and their involvement in reshaping traditional practices to meet changing circumstances. Two workshops held by the study team with leaders of Zaire's Traditional Healers' Association identified several of the complex culturally sensitive issues associated with Western-imposed AIDS prevention programs. In fact, dialogue with traditional healers revealed that much opposition to condom use emerges from the promotion of this method as a means of population control by imperialistic donor agencies. In addition, these healers were repositories of many potentially harmful beliefs, e.g., that having sex with a virgin will rid a man of AIDS. Although it remains unclear whether traditional healers can be enlisted in reinterpreting culturally sensitive issues in ways that will promote AIDS prevention, ongoing dialogue and a view of AIDS as an issue of development are necessary.