Development, Sexual Cultural Practices and HIV/AIDS in Africa PDF
Preview Development, Sexual Cultural Practices and HIV/AIDS in Africa
Samantha Page Development, Sexual Cultural Practices and HIV/AIDS in Africa Development, Sexual Cultural Practices and HIV/AIDS in Africa Samantha Page Development, Sexual Cultural Practices and HIV/AIDS in Africa Samantha Page Department of Global Development and Planning University of Adger Kristiansand, Norway ISBN 978-3-030-04118-2 ISBN 978-3-030-04119-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04119-9 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018962020 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019. This book is an open access publication. Open Access This book is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this book are included in the book’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the book’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover design by Tom Howey This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland F oreword Samantha contacted me back in 2008 when she was thinking of doing a Ph.D. about traditional cultural practices and HIV in Malawi. She’d read my research about traditional cultural practices and AIDS. Initially, Samantha wanted to interview women and girls who had par- ticipated in sexual cultural practices. But I said to her perhaps it would be better to interview people who were worked on HIV prevention programmes in Malawi. As an outsider, trying to interview women about a sexual practice shrouded in secrecy is problematic. Samantha went to Malawi to do her doctoral research in 2008. I met her for the first time there. I employed her to be my research assistant and collect data whilst she was conducting her interviews. Since then we have been in regular contact and I have provided advice to her on her Ph.D. and her post-doctoral career. This book is a welcome addition to the dearth of literature on sexual practices and AIDS in Malawi. It is an under researched topic but nev- ertheless an important one. Many assumptions are made about the link between AIDS and sexual practices so this book is an important contri- bution to knowledge as it highlights the reality in Malawi, based on 60 interviews with policymakers, programme managers, lawyers and MPs, Malawian and foreign, who work on HIV prevention issues. What is interesting about her findings is how Malawians volunteer information about sexual cultural practices and AIDS as if they are mak- ing themselves appear modern and distancing themselves from the rural villager. Samantha uses the term ‘narratives of blame’—I think this is v vi ForEWorD very fitting—in other words how the stories told by Malawians blame the backward villager. In other words, the urban, educated Malawian elite is not responsible for the high HIV prevalence rates in Malawi, rather it is the uneducated, rural person. Why is this book important? The significant amount of money inter- national donors spend on trying to eradicate or modify sexual cultural practices is unjustified and wrong. So Samantha unravels the story using evidence from her interviews to highlight a flaw in donor thinking. That far too often donors don’t use evidence to support their work. They latch on to an idea thinking it is important, when really it isn’t. Los Angeles/Philadelphia, USA Susan Watkins Visiting Scholar, California Center for Population research, University of California-Los Angeles, Professor Emerita of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania A cknowledgements I would like to thank all those I interviewed in Malawi. I would particu- larly like to thank the family I stayed with in Malawi who were so kind to provide me with accommodation and food and welcomed me to their home. I can’t thank you enough. Thanks to all who supported me at Palgrave Macmillan: Karthika Purushothaman, Alina Yurova and Mary Fata in particular. Thank you to Tony Chafer. If it wasn’t for you I would have dumped the idea of completing a Ph.D. many years ago but you encouraged me to persevere. I have many mentors. Thank you to Susan Watkins who has provided me with endless support ever since I first became interested in the topic. A huge thanks also to Louise Ackers. I really appreciate your advice and support. Thanks to my colleagues in the Faculty of Social Sciences and the library at the University of Agder for providing financial support so that this book can be accessible online. Also thanks to my colleagues in the Department of Global Development and Planning, especially Hanne Haaland, who gave me the time to write the book, Alf Gunvald Nilsen for pushing me to think about this book, write a proposal and for helping me with the process and reviewing chapters and Gibran Cruz Martinez for reviewing chapters. vii viii ACKNoWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to my wonderful friends Bella and Sandra. Thanks also to Mitty. Lastly, I owe the deepest of thanks to my Mum and Dad, Martin and Jodie. c ontents 1 Introduction 1 2 Theoretical Perspectives 25 3 The Development Aid Situation in Malawi 43 4 ‘Harmful Cultural Practices’ and AIDS 61 5 How the Church Frames AIDS 107 6 The Construction of Policy: Donors, AIDS and Cultural Practices 141 7 Conclusion and Recommendations 187 Glossary 199 Index 203 ix A bbreviAtions AIDS A cquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ATr A frican Traditional religion CABS C ommon Approach to Budgetary Support CBo C ommunity Based organisation CEDAW C onvention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women CHAT C ountry Harmonisation and Alignment Tool DFID D epartment of International Development EU European Union FBo Faith-Based organisation GBV G ender Based Violence GFTAM G lobal Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria GTZ G erman Technical Development Agency HADG H IV/AIDS Development Group HCP H armful Cultural Practice HIV H uman Immunodeficiency Virus HMIS H ealth Management Information System IAWP I ntegrated Annual Work Plan INGo I nternational Non-Governmental organisation M&E M onitoring and Evaluation MANASo M alawi Network of AIDS Service organisations MANET+ M alawi Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS MBCA M alawi Business Coalition on AIDS MDHS M alawi Demographic and Health Survey MDICP M alawi Diffusion and Ideational Change Project MGDS M alawi Growth and Development Strategy xi
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