Challenging a patriarchal society

Date: 01/12/05

Elizabeth Mwenya Senkwe of Zambia lost two children to AIDS during the 1990s. Both were probably born HIV-positive, she says, although they were not tested in infancy.

She has two other children, aged six and eight, still living. Neither has yet been tested for the virus, although she plans to take the elder when he reaches ten.

"My children are precious, they are like gold in my hand," she says. "I don't want somebody to take them away from me."

The reminders of her loss are constant. "When I see somebody's child who is 13 years bullying my eight-year-old, I wish his brothers were around to take care of him."

Senkwe, who works for a Zambian network for people living with AIDS, was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1999. So far she has not had to take anti-retrovirals (ARVs), the drugs which can delay the onset of AIDS.

The rate of CD4 cells, also known as T-helper cells, in her blood is 355. The normal CD4 count in an uninfected adult ranges from 500 to 1,500 per cubic millimetre of blood. Public health guidelines in many countries recommend that preventive treatment should begin once a CD4 count falls below 200.

Senkwe lives in Nchelenge, a predominantly rural area bordering Congo. Trucks regularly pass through the district carrying copper, with many drivers known to break the monotony of their long journeys by hiring prostitutes. "Children from the tender age of 12 turn to prostitution because they need money," she says.

"Men want to negotiate with the girl. They say 'if you use a condom we pay you less money' and 'if you don't use a condom we pay you more'. We say to the girls: 'it is better to get little money than kill yourself with not using a condom'."

Charities have been providing ARVs free of charge in Nchelenge. While the Lusaka government has announced that it will, within the next few years, make these medicines available at no cost to patients in the rest of the country, she is not sure how this will work in practice.

UN agencies estimate that almost one in five Zambian adults is a carrier of HIV. Each day 300 people die from AIDS-related illnesses. More than one million children in the country are orphans. Life expectancy has fallen from 52 years in 1980 to just 37 today.

The importance of education in fighting the disease cannot be emphasised too strongly, says Senkwe. A culture of 'sexual cleansing' - the idea that men can gain protection by sex with a virgin - has to be tackled. This involves challenging the patriarchal nature of society. "If I die today, then they could give my husband my young sister," she says. Churches, political and community leaders all need to be appraised of the need to use condoms and avoid promiscuity, she believes.

But she also feels that AIDS has to be fought as part of a wider strategy against poverty and malnutrition. A study published by World Vision earlier this year found that children made orphans by AIDS were 2.5 times more likely to be worse fed than children whose parents were still alive. The effectiveness of treatment is reduced, Senkwe notes, if somebody has to take a dose of medicine twice a day but can only afford one daily meal.

Her message to governments in Western Europe is: "I would say they are discriminating against us, that they see us as poor people who are not responsible. If donors put money into Zambia, then they often only want to employ people from their own countries [in running the programmes]. But I can tell them that we are very responsible."

Article takes a look at the HIV/AIDS problem in Zambia. Article is part of a European Voice Special Report: 'HIV/AIDS'.

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