Development, Sexual Cultural Practices and HIV/AIDS in Africa

216 Pages·2019·1.67 MB·English

by  Samantha Page

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
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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