ANB-BIA SUPPLEMENT

ISSUE/EDITION Nr 322 - 15/04/1997

Zambia

Forlorn deaths

by Fred Chela, Zambia, February, 1997

THEME = AIDS

INTRODUCTION

Ever heard of Africa's "slow puncture" disease, also known as the "slim", "purge" or "shun" disease? These are not new killer diseases, but rather sobriquets for AIDS

People have coined these names for AIDS in Zambia, a country where 300 and 400 people are infected with the HIV virus every day. Zambians call it the "Slow Puncture" disease because the victims die a slow death, like a motorist driving a car with a slowly punctured tyre before coming to an abrupt stop, sometimes with fatal results for the occupants.

Stigmatised by society

AIDS goes by the name "Slim Disease" because the afflicted become agonizingly emaciated, reduced to skeletal thinness, with bones protruding from their withered flesh before they succumb to their inevitable death. It is also popularly known among Zambians as "Purge" or "Shun" Disease because victims suffer incessant purge and vomit ordeals.
These alternative names show that victims are stigmatised by society. Shunned even by their closest relatives, AIDS victims are pathetically isolated and are forced to fend for themselves until they die.
Medical authorities and social workers in Zambia confirm the AIDS sufferers have died forlorn deaths and in some cases, have been buried by city or municipal workers, despite the fact that traditionally it is considered a curse and taboo to be buried by strangers.
In an official document, Zambia's Health Ministry predicts that the life expectancy of Zambian adults will shrink from the current 51 years to 45 years by the year 2,000 due to AIDS. Recent HIV/AIDS research findings reveal that between 300 and 400 Zambians are infected with the HIV virus every day. This contradicts earlier research, the results of which were released in 1990, which projected 400 and 500 people to be classified as infected daily.

Critical situation

Dr.Moses Sichone, manager of the HIV/AIDS project at the Health Ministry says that despite this discrepancy, the epidemic in Zambia remained critical. Dr.Sichone says the research revealed that 40% of teachers in urban areas were infected with the virus. A projection suggests that older students in tertiary education, will die of AIDS before they can serve their bonding period or pay back their student loans.
AIDS is also said to be responsible for increased child mortality, and it is predicted that this will probably rise from the current 183 deaths per thousand, to 240 deaths per thousand by the year 2005. According to the Health Ministry policy document, the number of adults affected with AIDS is expected to increase from 10,000 in 1990 to more than 75,000 by the year 2000.
Conservative estimates, however, put the number of present HIV infections at more than 100,000 with about 10,000 people suffering from full-blown AIDS. The figures are debatable because many AIDS victims die at home unrecorded. Defence personnel are cited by the health policy document, as the group in Zambia with the highest rate of HIV infection. This fact has deprived the defence forces of its best, most highly trained and qualified personnel.

Declining moral behaviour

Professor Nkandu Luo, a specialist microbiologist and Deputy Health Minister, thinks that the HIV/AIDS onslaught is due to declining moral behaviour, characterised by indiscriminate sexual practices. Casual sex, she says, is responsible for most of Zambia's cases.
The retired Catholic Archbishop of Lusaka, Adrian Mung'andu, says that advertising condoms in the media abets and encourages promiscuity, not only among the young but also among adults. More than 4.5 million condoms were sold in Zambia last year.
While scientists seek a remedy and cure for the killer disease, the death rate from AIDS continues to rise.

END

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PeaceLink 1997 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement