University of Zambia Medical Library
HIV/AIDS in Zambia: November 1997
- "Healers Turn to Sex Education"
The Daily Mail: November 29, 1997
The Traditional Health Practitioners Association of Zambia (THPAZ) on the
Copperbelt has appealed to medical doctors and the non-governmental
organisations (NGO's) to come together and sensitise the public about the
dangers of AIDS while they look for the cure.
THPAZ Copperbelt publicity secretary Nsonga Mapulanga said in Kitwe
recently that the association was worried with the high rate of AIDS cases
in the country and said something should be done while they were looking
for the cure.
Mr Mapulanga also called on churches and schools to get involved in
sensitising people about AIDS because they were big institutions.
"We in THPAZ would like to appeal to medical doctors to support us in
examining our patients so that we know the progress we are making," he
said.
Mr Mapulanga said the association had now been involved in distributing
condoms to curb the AIDS pandemic, adding that they were also teaching
people about AIDS.
"I am appealing to single people to abstain from sex and marriage partners
should stick to one another," he said.
He, however, warned the public not to rely too much on condoms and said
they were not 100 per cent safe.
He also appealed to all traditional doctors to get registered before
December 15, 1997 failure to which their documents will be invalidated. -
ZANA. -
- "Traditional healers can't cure AIDS." by P. Mugala
Times of Zambia: November 29, 1997
I WISH to react to ZNBC's "Ilyashi lyapano isonde" of November 26. While I agree with the presenter of the programme for cautioning society against shunning people infected or suspected to be infected with HIV/AIDS, I disagree with him when he went further to say a disease similar to AIDS has been in existence for a long period of time and can be cured by known traditional healers.
My view is that the AIDS pandemic is real and everyone is at risk of contracting it and as such, people need to be told the truth always. Children dying one after another is not a healthy sign. The presenter should have advised couples who suspect that one of them
or both may be infected with the HIV virus to muster courage and have an HIV test before they decide to have a child, instead of taking a risk.
A number of incurable diseases have been with mankind since time immemorial, but none equals the manner in which HIV/AIDS can be contracted and its fatality. This topic should be handled with utmost caution as it is very sensitive and any diversion from already known facts may send
wrong signals to our youth and population at large. Meanwhile, I would like to thank the presenter of the programme for keeping us entertained. -
- "New Psycho Sexual Development Concept Should Be Strengthened"
The Daily Mail: November 29, 1997
Up until now teenagers, have been largely neglected and left out of
traditional family planning programmes. Unwanted pregnancies among girls
have devastating consequences such as discontinued education, dangerous
abortions, and death.
Today teenagers discuss both abortions and sexually transmitted diseases
STDs HIV/AIDS openly.
Similarly men have been excluded from normal traditional family planning
programmes. The targets for such plans were mainly women. But here too
attitudes are changing. Experience has it that novel issues like this one
need special attention.
The combination of sexual health and reproductive health to read sexual and
reproductive health suggest that old demarcation lines need to be changed
and re-arranged. Traditional areas such as maternal and family planning be
expanded. Women's health should include STD, HIV and AIDS and safe
abortions.
The most important thing is that teenagers, unmarried, divorced, elderly of
both sexes should be included.
In the new concept of Psycho sexual development sexuality is a positive
force in people's lives with an intrinsic value and must not be seen to
mean reproduction only, this is particularly so against the back drop of
HIV/AIDS pandemic. In this regard and specifically is psycho sexual
development teenage sexual health continually in the life of the human
being.
According to Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health, bulletin of February,
1994, every year 15 million children are born of teenage parents and 80% of
these births occur in developing countries.
Sixty-five percent teenage mothers give birth to their first born child
before they reach the age of 20. Material mortality rate higher in teenage
mothers than in adult brackets.
The rate of abortions is also more especially in Africa where illegal
abortions claim between 50,000 and 100,000 yearly.
STDs are prevalent among teenagers which give rise to HIV/AIDS pandemic,
thus it becomes vital to take necessary action more so in those countries
where the teenage fertility is not accepted.
The sexual relationship of teenagers are often a difficult subject for
adults especially for we parents . We try as much as possible to avoid
dealing with topics related to sex.
This means the young boys and girls do not receive counseling, concept ad
adequate information and proper access to contraception.
Out present curricular in Zambia is not relevant for real situation as far
as he lives of teenagers are concerned. There is no cooperation between
Education ministry and that Health. The entire duplication things of youth
organisation are just too weak and disorganised to achieve meaningful
results.
In Zambia I was privileged to work with street kids or displaced children
within the same category of displaced children, there were about six other
organisations dealing with displaced children other than the names we were
more or less dealing with the same kind of children.. There was CINDI
(children in need) and many other fragments serving more or less the same
purpose.
There are many factors that are contributing to teenage unwanted
pregnancies, spread of STDs and HIV/AIDS and not forgetting the dangerous
and botched abortions.
There are some countries that have introduced and developed programmes
aimed at fighting vices among teenagers.
Let me conclude by looking at Swedish experience in this area.
In 1971 some parents lodged an application with the European Commission of
Human Rights maintaining that compulsory sex education which has introduced
into public schools was contrary to the beliefs they held as Christian
parents and constituted a violation of the European Human Rights
Convention.
The European Human Rights Court passed the judgement in 1976. The court
found that the Danish curriculum in no way attempted indoctrination aimed
at advocating a specific kind of sexual behaviour. Further, it did not
affect the right of parents to enlighten and advise their children to
exercise with regard to their children natural parental functions as
educators, or to guide their children on a path in line with the parents
own religious or philosophical convictions.
The court recognised, however, that the state must take care that
information or knowledge is conveyed in an objective critical and
pluralistic manner. The state is forbidden "to pursue an aim of
indoctrination that might be considered as respecting parents' religious
and philosophical convictions." In other words, the court said that
compulsory sex education does not infringe on the freedom of religion.. It
all depends on the curriculum and how the education is conducted.
The fact in this case was that the Danish sex education according to the
human rights court conveyed "useful and correct information," and did so in
an "objective and critical pluralistic manner."
The Justice and Peace Committee of St. Ignatius made useful recommendations
to the government including suggestions for the police to be better
educated about the law applying to juveniles and about their
responsibilities when dealing with juveniles.
Better police praising should be given to bring the attitudes and
behaviours of the police more in line with the current democratic emphasis
on human rights.
The street children should be educated about their rights as well as their
responsibilities and duties as law abiding citizens.
More information should be given to families regarding the help that is
available and the existing services and facilities that are provided for
children in need.
More drop-in-centres for care of street children should be established so
that their immediate needs can be met and the children can be encouraged to
resume their education where possible.
More study should be made of the problem of the young girls who are living
on the streets. They present special cases which should be responded to
with much greater attention and care than they are presently receiving.
This requires an urgent recommendation made by the 1992 UNICEF workshop.
Church groups and other NGOs should get involved in providing for street
children.
The Child Care Department should be strengthened so that it can effectively
exercise its responsibility in protecting children.
The Juvenile Act should be amended by Parliament to update it to the
existing reality in the country. Many of its provisions (e.g. about care
given to children picked up) are completely out of touch with the present
situation.
The root cause of the problem of the increase in the numbers of street
children deteriorating national economy must be addressed or no solution to
this problem can be found.
This is one reason for the review of the social consequences of the
Structural Adjustment Programme. -
- "Children Living in a World with AIDS " by Joost Hoppenbrouwer.
Health-L: November 28, 1997
As you all know, 1 December is World AIDS Day. This year's theme is
"Children Living in a World with AIDS." As every year, there will be several activities in which you can participate. The main events in Lusaka include:
- FATHER-SON FOOTBALL MATCH at Nkholoma Stadium, Chelstone.
30 November, 1997, 15.00 hours.
- CANDLELIGHT SERVICE AT HOLY CROSS CATHEDRAL, with General Godfrey Miyanda,
Vice-President of the Republic of Zambia as Guest of Honour.
30 November, 1997, 18.00 hours.
- POPULAR MARCH ON 1 DECEMBER, starting at 8.30 hours from Farmers' House
(Cairo Road) to Garden Compound via Church Road - Makishi Road - Garden Road.
There will be a PUBLIC FUNCTION from 9.30 till 12.00 hours at Garden Compound,
near the Street Kids Centre, Lusaka. Honourable Newstead Zimba, Minister of
Community Development and Social Services will be the Guest of Honour.
- LAUNCH OF BOOK "HIV/AIDS IN ZAMBIA - BACKGROUND, PROJECTIONS, IMPACT,
INTERVENTIONS" at the Pamodzi Hotel. 1 December, 1997, 18.00 hours.
Please come to any of these events or other activities organised in your own
neighbourhood. Support the cause of Children Living in a World With AIDS. -
- "World Stands Still and Reflects on AIDS Day With Children as Theme" by Mizinga Mulomba
The Daily Mail, November 24, 1997
The world solemnly observes December 1 of every year to recap on its
greatest silent war as there is a growing number of children being
threatened in various ways by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Some have been
infected, others have lost their parents, a situation that almost sentences
them to poverty. Children living in a world with AIDS, as the theme for 1997 World AIDS Day
on December 1, will refocus the desperate situation children are going
through, and the forecast threat to their future.
Governments and non government organisations (NGOs) the world over have
since the first HIV diagnosis in the early 1980s taken various means to
combat the spread of HIV.
Most of them have failed, literally. The epidemic has continued spreading
and expanding on its catch. Earlier, it was restricted to elderly people.
It moved to the young adults, and now the children from age zero.
Its intensity has also been moving from the top ages to the bottom.
Children born with the virus suffer various opportunistic diseases and die
in many numbers before they reach three years of age.
There are all indications of the children's quagmire that the world would
have to grapple with. One of the manifestations of AIDS that was restricted
to the adult populations was the Karposi sarcoma (KS). This disease has
now been classified as one that would be prevalent in children as the
epidemic spreads.
A recent research on KS and children in Zambia reveals the threat children
face. Of the sample taken, the male-to-female ratio was 3:1 and the average
age at diagnosis was 3.4 years (representing real ages of 1.8 and 5.2
years). Some of the patients had abnormal chest radiographs and others had
developed skin lesions but no oral or conjunctival lesions were observed.
According to researchers, the KS infection in children could have occurred
through various means. There were, however, some directly observed means
that included those who had received several blood transfusion, and
possible transplacental spread. For the rest, they suggested that the presence of HIV infection plus other unknown cofactors in patients were more likely aetiological.
Most of the children in the sample never lived for more than a year and
half.And with poverty levels that have been increasing in some parts of the
Sub-Saharan Africa, experts say malnutrition in children has proved a
stumbling block in life prolonging measures.
On the overall projections in Zambia, more than five out of 10 children
with malnutrition and HIV die, compared to only two out of 10 from those
with malnutrition but not HIV infected.
Morbidity and mortality for HIV infected children suffering from
malnutrition is increasing. Since there is no weight gain, admission to
rehabilitation centers has depressing effect on mothers, leading to
counterproductive factors.
The experts suggest home based care which contains opportunities for
preventative counseling of families and communities.
Another factor that has claimed positive children's lives is tuberculosis.
Apart from being a danger in itself, most children have been found to react
badly to medication, some of these medicines have been stopped by the World
Health Organisation (WHO) on those basis.
In TB treatment among HIV positive and those who were negative, adverse
skin reactions have been seen in children with HIV.
Some, depending on the treatment, develop the Stevens-Johnsons syndrome and
their mortality is nine out of 10. Many of them die three days after
showing the reactions.
Such are just a few real problems that the children of today are facing.
And with increasing HIV prevalence in both urban and rural areas among ante
natal women, the problem looks like it will enter the millennium with a
full force.
For those that have survived direct effect, they are facing matters of
bread, butter and shelter. In this area, organisations that have dedicated
their efforts for the children like Children In Distress (CINDI), the
situation is a time bomb.
In some of its surveys in Lusaka Matero East and Kamanga townships, CINDI
has realised that socio-economic problems faced by orphans are quite
significant.
The community support for orphans is minimal and in most cases even the
extended families have not been very supportive especially on school and
other long term solutions.
The situation is the same in rural Zambia.
Through another survey by St. Francis AIDS Department in Katete, eastern
province, of 450 households visited, 142 had at least one orphan. And among
the orphan population estimated at 20, 000, half of them have lost
parent(s) as a result of AIDS.
And in every 10 of the orphans, six of the children within the school going
age do not go to school. About one third of the orphans are cared for by
their mother, and 20 percent by their grandmothers.
The consequences are many, and they would reflect on the nation. Soon the
streets which are already full of children might never take any more.
Some of them would be growing with a grudge against the world, as one
social scientist said:'as children, they do not know that it is AIDS that
took their parent(s). They look at how society treats them and react from
that towards life.'
But all has not been declared lost by anti-AIDS activists.
While some have continued pounding on behaviour change, others have been
selling condoms. Others still, like the Family Health Trust, the matter has
been taken to the children themselves.
So far, FHT has been in the forefront to involve youths to teach each other
about the HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The
group has managed to help form anti-AIDS clubs in both primary and
secondary schools.
The idea is to create a generation that is aware of the epidemic. Also
making the hallmark of the community based strategy is that attitudes take
time to change.
The children as young as seven are the window of hope in changing
behaviour, if only the family and society could help them into growing as
adults who value their lives and avoid into living lives that put them at
risk of being infected.
The FHT's strategy seems to be working. Children have grasped the message.
Now awaited is whether they would be adopting the best practices they have
learnt. At one drama competition held in Lusaka, FHT executive director
Elizabeth Mataka once urged them to make use of the knowledge to guard
against falling into the HIV/AIDS trap.
For the children, their sketches through popular theater were educative,
informative and effective.
They recited moving poems and sung songs that bring to the fore the
problems they face as they try to live safely. These are the children
living in a world with AIDS. -
- "They Become Reckless After Deaths of Some AIDS Afflicted Husbands"
Times of Zambia: November 21, 1997
A clergywoman has criticised widows who become sexually
irresponsible after the deaths of their husbands thus contributing
to the rising number of AIDS cases in Zambia. Ebenezer Methodist Church Reverend, Edith Mutale, also of the Christian Council of Zambia (CCZ), told women at a Fairbridge Widows
Association meeting in Lusaka that it was a shame to see how some
widows were misbehaving after the deaths of their husbands.
Rev Mutale said such women were contributing to the rise in the
number of HIV cases whose levels were almost getting out of hand.
She asked where the integrity of Zambian women who were once a
cultured group had now gone, saying some widows even went to the
extent of going out with young boys even when they knew that their
husbands might have died of AIDS.
"Some even know that their spouses could have died of AIDS but they
still go ahead and spread it to others recklessly,"she said.
She called on women to lead decent lives after being widowed if
their respect in society was to be maintained.
Rev Mutale added that widows would not receive the sympathy from
society that they deserve if they did not respect themselves and
lead decent lives. She called on widows to work hard and earn their respect in society
instead of expecting someone to always lend a helping hand.
"Time is gone when a good samaritan will come to your aid and assist
you. There are very few such people and the onus is now on you to
take the responsibility of feeding your families
single-handedly,"she said.
Fairview Widows Association organised the workshop in a bid to see
how widows could help each other and exchange ideas on what viable
business ventures they could engage in to feed their families.
-
- "Zambians Review Locally Invented AIDS Drug" by Mulenga, Mildred
PANA Wire Service: November 15, 1997
Health experts gathered Saturday in Lusaka, Zambia, to
discuss the use of herbiron tinasiferon--a locally developed
drug--for the treatment of AIDS. In February, the government
banned the use and sale of the drug until it had been assessed by
international medical institutions. Since that time, the drug
has been reviewed by Dr. Patrick Chikusa of the University of
Zambia's Pharmacology School of Medicine and a pharmacology
consultant with the World Health Organization, who found that
herbiron tinasiferon reverses trends that encourage the efficient
movement of HIV from cell to cell. The inventor of drug,
Professor Mulenga Lukwesa, said he hoped the new data would help
the government give marketing approval to the therapy. -
- "Anti-AIDS Drive Seems to Have Lost Steam" by Yohanne Kamanga
Times of Zambia: November 11, 1997
People are ominously talking less and less about AIDS - Apart from those
workshops of course. In fact AIDS is now referred to only obliquely and in vaguest of terms.
Broaching the subjects at funerals is usually interpreted as cruel inference to the deceased. This attitude, unfortunately, permeates groups that are supposed to keep the anti-AIDS flame burning. On the streets of Lusaka, for example, anti-AIDS billboards are barely legible - all for neglect.
Some have been defaced and replaced with TB-curability messages. The story about anti-AIDS posters is similar; the steam to distribute them has evaporated. The billboard and poster anti-AIDS drive seems to have been abandoned. Yet this was about the surest point of confrontation between anti-AIDS messages and the man on the street. What has gone wrong? Why the
lackadaisical attitude now?
Lusaka Mayor Fisho Mwale, on ZNBC radio recently, attributed this attitude to people resigning to the reality that AIDS has come to stay and cannot be washed away. Long-standing ZNBC TV personality Goretti Mwiza Mapulanga says it is a "change of tactics" on the part of the campaigners. Without taking sides with or against those two positions, this article discusses why this well intended campaign foundered so that the "New tactics" do not also peter out
without impacting society. Change of tactics by billboard AIDS campaigners was a result of realising that the campaign was not producing desired results - a change in people's sexual attitudes and behaviour. But social attitudes cannot be changed like car wheels because they are culturally ingrained. Though we know what the problem is, or what we need to change, does not imply we know how to change it. This campaign's results have illustrated this truth.
There is a lot of social engineering required to be done in order to identify the building blocks of these attitudes. Aiming at behaviour itself is like treating symptoms. Until enough research is done to identify the diseases (not symptoms) we will continue groping in
the dark in our campaigns.
Need for serious research:
This then is the core problem: The campaign was not heralded by serious research. The beauty of feasibility studies is that you need not grope in the dark. Haste in this case is acceptable and understandable, however, because you do not go on theorising while people continue to die of the disease. The AIDS spread was not going to relent while humanity searched for
solutions. But groping in the dark after 12 solid years of AIDS without isolating trends that influence behavioural change certainly calls for serious fresh evaluation of the input that determines our approaches to anti-AIDS campaigns. Anyhow, the point is that the absence of research led to confusion. Posters were commissioned and displayed that did not communicate the intended messages. Sometimes the intended message escalated instead of slowing the spread of
the virus. Other times these posters and billboards elicited lurid gripes from the public that was meant to take them seriously thus diluting the effect. Take this fat-thin man (before and after) poster stuck on a bar counter or wall for example. At such a bar the poster is meant to warn about the dangers of AIDS, so a patron asks his co-patron pointing at the poster: "What is your friend doing here in that after state? Tell him he is spoiling our appetite." His friends concurs:"Fyabufi." (It is all lies). Can AIDS strip you of your jacket, tie, shirt, shoes?" (They laugh). You see, humour in matters of life and death should not be accidental. It
waters down the solemnity with which we are supposed to treat serious issues.
Let us look at another way that ill-researched propaganda can impact negatively and produce unintended results. Some of the very anti-AIDS campaign (AAC) slogans have been partly
responsible for the escalation of the HIV as mentioned earlier on. An example is a seemingly innocent well-meaning caption that says "stick to one faithful partner." This advice only fits certain classes of our society - the married, courting, AIDS-free and so on. It does not cater for those having sex for the first time. Maiden sex is almost never maiden to both partners at the same time. One may already have the virus. It is also highly suicidal, for example,
for those who indulge in frequent illicit sex, or single men, to stick to one sex worker.
It is in a certain realm of thinking much safer to pick one today and dump her tomorrow.
That way one never builds trust in any one sexual partner that could ultimately lower one's guard and tempt one to indulge in unprotected sex. The trust-centred sexual relationship can only ignore but never remove the prostitute's past that may include viral infection.
This lack of research is illustrated more graphically by linguistic and semantic deficiency and inappropriate repertoire in the AAC language that conspire to produce weird meaning slogans such as "Women must join men in the fight against Aids." Gender distortion betrayals apart, this slogan does no reflect reality on the ground. Well-researched work meant to influence, let alone change society's sexual behaviour attitudes must of necessity reflect reality - what obtains on the ground. To meet this "reality on the ground" criterion, a poster or billboard must be unambiguous, straight-forward and easily discernible. Should it contain more than one messages, these should be non-contradictory, complimentary and interrelated. This has not been the case in this campaign. Examine the "three-men-two women" bar environment poster as an example. What messages does it convey?
Here is what 450 respondents from a cross section of Lusaka thought:
- AIDS concerns both sexes.
- It's up to men to control AIDS spread.
- Prostitutes spread AIDS.
- Beer lowers men's guard against AIDS.
- When you indulge, use a condom.
- Bar women are an AIDS risk group.
- Men contract HIV from women.
- It's up to women to control AIDS.
- Seemingly healthy people may have AIDS.
- When you drink carry condoms.
- Illicit sex is part of drinking life.
- Don't know.
As the above statements testify, a lot of them are contradictory. Tragically, a single person may hold variant views. This may be translated into behavioural terms. The poster then has done him no good at all. This is because the message is distorted.
Message distortion:
This message distortion permeates the preliminary stages of message or poster design. Evidence for this is where a poster was designed or painted by more than one person. When interviewed separately, each contributor never always gave exactly the same interpretation other co-producers gave. When there is no consensus among those who compose and design message
signals about what their signals mean, can we blame those who receive those signals for seeing or reading so many different meanings in the message ? A lot of diligence must be exercised in designing partially or entirely non-lexical messages because of their potential to generate an almost infinite number of interpretations and misinterpretations. Research and piloting can ensure posters and billboards communicate intended messages only - at least to those who do not misinterpret out of mischief. Let us now turn to another reason for the failure of the AAC
under discussion.
False premises:
The aegis of the billboard-poster Anti-AIDS Campaign was anchored so firmly on a host of false premises. One such premise is that those who designed the AAC messages believed mankind is so scared of death that people would stop indulging in anything leading to an early demise.
Well, evidence suggests otherwise. In fact some people's libido are much stronger than their instincts to live. AIDS kills in the most macabre of ways but statistics indicate many people still indulge in illicit sex - AIDS' surest and most faithful agents. Some people do fear death but to some this fear is relative to other variables like responsibility and culpability to loved ones; levels of achievement (high achivers value life most) wealth, uncompleted projects etc. When these worries are adequately addressed or do not exist, the
death-fear equation suffers severe irreversible perforations. Fear of death per se and fear of the result(s) of death must therefore be split. Related to fear is the element of religious conviction - a good reason why many claim do not indulge in amorous activities. This writer has never seen a poster or billboard anywhere towering and shouting: "Don't indulge, the
Lord is watching you!'' It may help some people - if not change their sexual behaviour - at least to suppress their lust and rationalise. All methods that will keep Jim and Jack out of mischief are important. Love or supposed love of the Lord God is one such method. Supposed love in its various forms is another facade that the two human sexes have used to prevent reality. To the majority of the human race, this love and the tenets that define how humans relate to each other (wife, husband, mistress etc) serve as security for a myriad of things.
To have sex when you want to or need to without offending someone is one. It is security against insecurity and loneliness; it does relate needs for to shelter, status, food, companionship, to perpetuate one's creed and so forth. When this supposed love stops to ensure these securities, an endless search that may lead to illicit sex results. The human male-female relationship is governed by a host of circumstantial variables that humanity seems unwilling to admit. The result is that pretence becomes the norm. AIDS has found fertile ground in the void created by this hypocrisy. These above should not be interpreted to mean this writer is such a pessimist who does not believe in real love like the one between father and
son. The point here is that this love in humans is regulated by our biological, socio-economic religious or legal taboos which are easily broken under a veil of secrecy. That is why society never raises eyebrows when the socio-economically independent minded women who claim not to need men also contract AIDS. Those in this campaign must muster all forces at work in society in order to cater for every group.
Gender and religion:
Then there is the ambivalence introduced into the campaign by gender. Those in the campaign must be acquainted with problems associated with terminology in this undertaking.
They should know when to use the morally-loaded and highly stigmatised "prostitute" or the connotation-free "sex worker". This is because usage and acceptance of these terms is tied to society's sense of moral and gender sensitivity. Unfortunately these two do not always share convergence zones. As a result the moralist prefers to use the term ''prostitute'' and see
''sex worker'' etymology as dressing aberrant characters in saintly garment in order to trick society into accepting deviants as norm. The majority in the Anti-AIDS war and indeed workers themselves promote the latter term. Diction is crucial in this war because it deals with
attitudes. Wrong choice to a wrong target group could bear negative results. Finally, the campaigners must counter deliberate, malicious and ignorant misinformation counter-campaigns perpetrated by greed-inspired, self-concerned clergy-businessmen-politicians who have been callously preaching that AIDS is the curse of modern-day Sodom and Gomorrhah. Or is it?
Silence tends to lend credence to such ungodly utterances and influences people's attitudes for or against the anti-AIDS campaign. So much for what has gone wrong in this war against AIDS. Let's look at what must be done. The campaign must revisit this undertaking but more professionally this time. There must be no let up in this battle because this media has more
advantages than electronic one. For one thing, once strategically fixed, billboards or posters cannot be switched off like radios and TVs when one doesn't like the message. For another, this media is not programmed (like radios); it is omnipresent. Finally, a majority of Zambians have neither the time (or tolerance) to listen to electronic media nor money to buy receivers.
This revisiting must not concentrate on strategy only; it must include billboards and poster already commissioned to ensure they do not carry graffiti that impedes the intended message. -
- "Let's Fight HIV/AIDS, Advises Luo"
The Post: November 5, 1997
Efforts must be exerted to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic, advised health
deputy minister professor Nkandu Luo on Monday night. Luo, speaking at a dinner hosted for the visiting Chinese delegation at Lusaka's Hotel Intercontinental, noted that health was not just in hospitals but also includes nutritional aspects. "The Ministry of Health is the cornerstone which ensures all these nutritional aspects are brought together to ensure that health is
enhanced," Luo said. Chinese head of the delegation, Zhijun Mao, said the visit was an important one because it comes at a time when Chinese Prime Minister Li Peng recently
visited Zambia. "I also notice that there are a lot of similarities between our two
countries especially in the climate and natural resources, " Mao said.
[Table of Contents]
[AIDS/Zambia Index]
[Alphabetical Index]
[Zamnet]
[UNZA]
[UNZA Library]
Send comments and/or suggestions to:
medlib@unza.zm or lenny@library.health.ufl.edu
Copyright © 1996-2001, The University of Zambia Medical Library and Lenny Rhine
Guide to Medical Resources WWW site: http://www.medguide.org.zm/
Last updated February 13, 1998
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