LESSON 11

 

 

CLAIMS TO CURE FOR HIV/AIDS IN AFRICA

 

 

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:


Is there a cure or vaccine for HIV/AIDS?

 

There is currently no cure for AIDS, and no vaccine to prevent infection with HIV, but there are drugs that can slow down the multiplication of the virus and the rate at which it weakens the immune system. In some patients the virus has been reduced to undetectable levels.

A number of candidate vaccines are undergoing clinical trials with some promising results. There are also drugs that can prevent or treat most opportunistic infections (OI).

 

 

Africa’s potential for cure
 

There is no doubt that the most ravaged continent could be the pioneer in the cure of HIV/AIDS. We can live up to the ancient name for Africa – Chemet.

Chemet means the “land of the blacks” and the word Chemistry or chemetic science (the basis of synthesis) means the “black man’s science”. So science is the gift of Africans to the modern world.

 

Africa is rich in rainforest that is home to plants or medicinal herbs that are widely celebrated for their useful role in the development of safe and efficacious medications. We cannot forget DIGITALIS for its product – Digoxin - in the treatment of heart failure. RAUWOLFIA SERPENTINA in developing Reserpine for the treatment of depression.

However, most medicinal herbs employed in the treatment of diseases in Africa are not subjected to critical analysis. So for African traditional herbal medicine to be universally acceptable, there is need for concerted efforts to determine its specific ingredients. Potential effects and side-effects has to be thoroughly researched. Scientific quantification of doses need be attempted.

 

 

Traditional Medicine in Africa and HIV/AIDS
 

The hopeless status of HIV positive persons has continually expose them to exploitation by most traditional healers. Several traditional or alternative medicine practitioners in Africa have claimed to have the cure to HIV/AIDS. There are 3 categories of African traditional healers:

 

·        Those who only use medicinal substances;

·        Those working with “intangible forces and rites”; and

·        Those who combine these two aspects.

 

The first group, perhaps, has a basis for their claims because a number of medicinal herbs are successfully used in the treatment of malaria and some psychiatric disorders. But, the second group relies only on dreams and consultation with supernatural beings or ancestral spirits for diagnosis and cure. No single case of cure for HIV/AIDS has been objectively reported or documented by this group of African alternative medicine practitioners. So, the question of suppressing a particular culture does not arise.

This is captured in the oral submission to the parliamentary committee on TRADITIONAL HEALERS AND THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM on February 18, 1998 by a professional organization (“Doctor for life”):

 

“The heart of the matter is therefore not a cultural-ethnic one, but rather the struggle to promote, attain and secure true healing – true wholeness of individuals, families and communities…. in a way that will not lead to exploitation of, or harm to any person in South Africa, but especially the rural people”.

 

It is worth noting that some of the herbal medicines used in some of the settings improve general health conditions of AIDS’ patients especially opportunistic infections, but they are not in any way curative of HIV/AIDS.

 

 

CLAIMS TO CURE 

 

Traditional Medicine

Herbs and scarification marks sometimes with incantations are used as so-called cure for HIV/AIDS. Scarification marks is very common in most African settings. The “medicine-man” makes multiple incisions with a razor blade in the skin of an HIV positive person, then rub “medicine” into the wounds and uses same razor blade in the same way for the next patient possibly with disease other than HIV. The “cure” of the one becomes the lethal side-effect for the next patient.

 

The sad side of this claim is that some treatable AIDS defining opportunistic infections like Tuberculosis are left untreated. Accelerated progression and ultimately death is what the patient is offered.

 

 

“Medical Astrology”

The gloomy reality of HIV/AIDS in Africa has generated so much interest that Astrology and Transcedental Medicine (“TM”) are beginning to take on a role with controversial prophecies on the cure of HIV/AIDS. Astrologer Mahendra Sharma said there would be a cure for AIDS in 2002. He did not make an open prophecy, but with affirmation that the medicine that will lead to cure of HIV/AIDS would come from Africa. Succour to a continent most stricken by the scourge we thought! Unfortunately that did not happen.

 

 

Paedophilia as cure for HIV/AIDS

Myths, as in traditional Africa, have surfaced in the cure for HIV. There is a widespread rumour from unscrupulous healers that an HIV positive person could rid himself of the deadly virus through having sexual intercourse with a young virgin. Countless rapes of girls, from as young as 3years upwards, are the sad consequence. Words cannot describe the horror for the children: The bodily mutilations, the psychological trauma and finally HIV infection.

 

This myth is particularly common in South Africa’s northeastern province of Kwazulu-Natal. Read the ordeal of a young African girl:

 

“I was raped by my own dad when I was 16”, Ennie said the morning after learning she was infected with the virus that causes AIDS. “The love I had for him failed after that, and I couldn’t stand seeing him. But I called him yesterday. He is very sick and couldn’t talk much. He said, ‘Sorry if I was the one’.” Her father is bedridden and failing. Her mother died in April.She knows that she will be the next.1*

 

                   (1*:  Sunday Report Los Angeles Times, August 16,1998)

 

This myth is based on ignorance and a lack of education in most African cultures where confronting sexual issues is a taboo.

A recent United Nations (U.N.) report says that about one-fifth of female AIDS cases in Zimbabwe involve girls in their teens or younger, while the equivalent number among males is one-seventh. Imbalances in infection rates among girls and boys exist in other African countries as well. Perhaps child prostitution may account for this but also, the recent belief in the paedophilia remedy cannot be ruled out.

 

 

“Pseudo-orthodox Medicine”

Charlatans now exists among the supposed orthodox medical practitioners and laboratory technologists who take the advantage of HIV/AIDS to exploit and further worsen the suffering of the already improverished HIV patients and their family.

 

The alleged “cure” is not based on methods and technology that can be scientifically and practically justified. Their knowledge is usually based on subjective reasoning instead of being derived from critical analytical observation or from controlled, repeatable and standardized experimentation based on already defined conventional principles. The agents used are often not disclosed hiding under the guise of protection of intellectual property.

 

 

Religion

Lacking access to expensive western drugs, HIV positive persons are increasingly resorting to spirituality. They have faith in God or seek spiritual consultation with their ancestors for remedy. A number of claims of healing AIDS patients by religious leaders exist today with no documented proof.

 

 

Overall, there is need for vigilance and caution, on the part of HIV/AIDS patients and the general public, not to be deceived by the unfounded claims that could further strip them of their already depleted resources.  

   


 

Resources: Newspaper cuttings of claims to cure for HIV/AIDS

Procedure: Lead students to discuss local claims to cure for HIV/AIDS and emphasise on the doubtful efficacy of the claims. Post the newspaper cuttings for students to review over a two week period. Arrange a visit to a local site where claim is made for a cure. Engage students in discussions to evaluate local, national and international claims to cure for HIV/AIDS. Emphasise the non-availability of a vaccine for HIV and that scientists are actively working in this domain.

 


 

·        Herbs and scarification marks sometimes with incantations are used as so-called cure for HIV/AIDS. The sad side of this claim is that some treatable AIDS defining opportunistic infections like tuberculosis are left untreated. Accelerated progression and ultimately death is what the patient is offered.

·        Charlatans now exists among the supposed orthodox medical practitioners and laboratory technologists who take the advantage of HIV/AIDS to exploit and further worsen the suffering of the already improverished HIV patients and their family.

·        Lacking access to expensive western drugs, HIV positive persons are increasingly resorting to spirituality. They have faith in God or seek spiritual consultation with their ancestors for remedy. A number of claims of healing AIDS patients by religious leaders exist today with no documented proof.

 

  
 

  1. List the claims to cure for HIV/AIDS that are prevalent in your community.
  2. Evaluate the efficacy of such claims and the factors which make them acceptable to some sections of the community.