WE HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO DO WHEN IT COMES TO HIV AND AIDS EDUCATION
The following quote was posted on a message board and discussion forum that I visit frequently. The writer listed his location as Nigeria and his age as 29 years; no information regarding education was given:
"Can you contact AIDS after having sex. I don`t think so.AIDS has its spiritual origin from the marine kingdom.It is the Devil that afflict people with it.We normally cast it out through prayer and the afflicted receive their healing.I have seen people that contacted it without even being unfaithful to their partner.If you see yourself eating in the dream when sleeping,there`s the possibility that you can contact it.You need to be totally delivered from every manipulation of the Devil".
The first response of any person in the Western World who is educated about HIV and AIDS, regardless of their ethnic or religious background, would be a reactionary one; we would respond in an emotional fit of anger, most likely referring to the person as ignorant, stupid, or a lunatic. After I re-read this post and gave it some serious thought, I realized more than ever how much work we have ahead of us in the development and initiation of HIV and AIDS prevention and education initiatives in the developing world. If this is truly the belief of the people in some of these areas, such as Africa and India, where the epidemic is growing at alarming rates, then approaching these societies with our beliefs is not going to have an impact. The education and teaching has got to be culturally sensitive and specific, and it must be approached within the context of the belief systems of the people involved.
Every human being has a right to their own religious belief system, and we need to be tolerant of their beliefs and values. The leaders in global education and prevention need to come up with a way to help these people understand what HIV is, how HIV is transmitted, how to prevent infection, and how HIV and AIDS is treated. The teaching is going to have to incorporate the people's religious belief systems into this education in order to get them to buy into it. If people believe that HIV and AIDS is the curse of the Devil and that it can be cured by prayer, it is going to take a lot more creativity than sending a few celebrities across the world to hand out free condoms and offer HIV testing to these people to contain the epidemic.
I have included some links to organizations that address the World AIDS Prevention efforts:
http://www.unaids.org/en/
http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/od/gap/
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/219487/116654337195.htm
http://www.globalstrategies.org/
"Can you contact AIDS after having sex. I don`t think so.AIDS has its spiritual origin from the marine kingdom.It is the Devil that afflict people with it.We normally cast it out through prayer and the afflicted receive their healing.I have seen people that contacted it without even being unfaithful to their partner.If you see yourself eating in the dream when sleeping,there`s the possibility that you can contact it.You need to be totally delivered from every manipulation of the Devil".
The first response of any person in the Western World who is educated about HIV and AIDS, regardless of their ethnic or religious background, would be a reactionary one; we would respond in an emotional fit of anger, most likely referring to the person as ignorant, stupid, or a lunatic. After I re-read this post and gave it some serious thought, I realized more than ever how much work we have ahead of us in the development and initiation of HIV and AIDS prevention and education initiatives in the developing world. If this is truly the belief of the people in some of these areas, such as Africa and India, where the epidemic is growing at alarming rates, then approaching these societies with our beliefs is not going to have an impact. The education and teaching has got to be culturally sensitive and specific, and it must be approached within the context of the belief systems of the people involved.
Every human being has a right to their own religious belief system, and we need to be tolerant of their beliefs and values. The leaders in global education and prevention need to come up with a way to help these people understand what HIV is, how HIV is transmitted, how to prevent infection, and how HIV and AIDS is treated. The teaching is going to have to incorporate the people's religious belief systems into this education in order to get them to buy into it. If people believe that HIV and AIDS is the curse of the Devil and that it can be cured by prayer, it is going to take a lot more creativity than sending a few celebrities across the world to hand out free condoms and offer HIV testing to these people to contain the epidemic.
I have included some links to organizations that address the World AIDS Prevention efforts:
http://www.unaids.org/en/
http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/od/gap/
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/219487/116654337195.htm
http://www.globalstrategies.org/
posted by Laurie @ 12/21/2006
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