Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 5/9/2005

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CONTENT:

1 - ZIMBABWE: Apostolic Faith churches act to prevent spread of HIV/AIDS

2 - ZIMBABWE: Taking the anti-AIDS message to the men

1 - ZIMBABWE: Apostolic Faith churches act to prevent spread of HIV/AIDS

JOHANNESBURG, 9 May (PLUSNEWS) - The leadership of Zimbabwe's Apostolic Faith

(AF) movement, one of the most conservative churches in the country, have

embraced a new creed - that of AIDS prevention.

AIDS activists have long complained that despite climbing HIV infection rates,

church leaders have been reluctant to effect behaviour change among their

members. Now AIDS NGOs have been invited to work with the movement to develop an

anti-AIDS strategy for its three million followers.

Over the years, the AF has courted controversy because of its religious beliefs,

including polygamy, wife inheritance and the forced marriage of young girls to

elders. The use of contraceptives has also been considered as contrary to the

teachings of the Bible.

Although the sect was started in Zimbabwe, it is well established in Botswana,

South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia. Easily identifiable by their long, white

gowns, clean-shaven heads for men and white head-scarves for women, the sects

are a now common feature across Southern Africa.

In a bold move, church leaders recently appealed to the AIDS Policy Advocacy

Project (APAP) for assistance in developing an HIV/AIDS mitigation policy, which

could see the overhaul of deeply entrenched traditional practices. The APAP is

supported by the Futures Group, an international AIDS NGO that targets

faith-based organisations.

" We now know that upholding such traditions as polygamy, wife inheritance and

forced marriages for our daughters is killing us. We want to change these

attitudes, and adopt policies that will save the young and old members of all

Apostolic Faiths, by letting them know which ones of our practices are exposing

us to HIV/AIDS, " an Apostolic Faith elder, Bishop Revai Chitanda, told PlusNews.

Chitanda said increased awareness of the disease among church elders would

empower them to inform their congregations of safer sex practices.

" What we want, in the long run, is to spread the anti-AIDS message to all

Apostolic Faith outposts in Southern Africa. We are a huge, ever-growing

congregation, but we have for long been associated with retrogressive

traditions. We now want to be the ones to deliver our people from the vicious

cycle of HIV/AIDS - we have already lost too many and we can't stand to lose

more, " said Chitanda.

Godfrey Tinarwo, a senior HIV/AIDS advocacy specialist with the Futures Group,

told PlusNews that the NGO was keen to assist all churches in formulating

HIV/AIDS policies. He said although many churches were eager to put HIV/AIDS

policies in place, they were ill-equipped to implement them.

" We will continue to work with all faith-based organisations, including the

Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association, in forming networks through

which they can form and share HIV/AIDS prevention, care and mitigation

policies, " Tinarwo explained.

While finding assistance to formulate an AIDS policy had proven easier than

expected, Chitanda said the challenge lay in convincing congregations of the

benefits of the new policy.

" It is not going to be easy - there are many people who still strongly believe

that the beliefs we have been practising are unquestionably correct and

God-given. Putting the message of change across is one thing; having it accepted

is a different matter altogether, " Chitanda commented.

Futures Group International also runs similar programmes in Zimbabwe's Anglican,

Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Zionist congregations.

[ENDS]

2 - ZIMBABWE: Taking the anti-AIDS message to the men

BULAWAYO, 9 May (PLUSNEWS) - Bumbanani Mlotshwa is a regular in the crowded

township pubs of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city. Neither a boozer nor a

hawker, he's on an altogether different mission.

Moving from table to table, Mlotshwa spreads the word to all who will listen:

AIDS is real, it's transmitted through unprotected sex, and condoms can save

lives. To help the message stick among the knots of mainly men knocking back

their beers, he hands out pamphlets and free prophylactics.

Mlotshwa is a Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) counsellor, part of a new initiative

to tackle AIDS head-on in the conviviality of the bars and beer gardens, where

alcohol can lower inhibitions, rev up libido, and temporarily suspend common

sense.

He talks of the need for couples to take joint responsibility for safer sex,

deftly whips out condoms to demonstrate correct use, and preaches tolerance for

those already infected with the virus.

" It's our collective responsibility, as men, to play a part in the fight against

AIDS, and that can be done in many ways. The use of condoms is an option, but

being faithful to our partners is the best solution to the spread of AIDS, " he

advises one group of drinkers, who nod in agreement. " Thousands of people are

dying daily, and the solution lies in us being responsible husbands. "

The preponderance of patrons are men, often overlooked in outreach programmes,

which tend to focus on women, who are most affected by HIV/AIDS. But MSF

recognises the critical role men can play in stemming the virus and has decided

to go after this neglected 50 percent of the population.

" The reason why we are targeting men is that they are the ones who take the

initiative in intimacy, and they have the final word, " said MSF Bulawayo

spokesperson Fernanda Falero.

" We have come to realise that the best way to reach men is to go to where they

are found most of the time, and in numbers, and that is in bars and beer halls.

We have a team that we dispatch every weekend to visit drinking places and talk

to them on how they can play a meaningful role in fighting HIV/AIDS, " Falero

said.

She noted that a recent MSF survey found that men's knowledge of AIDS-related

issues was limited compared to their spouses, who more often receive some kind

of education and counselling when they visit clinics during pregnancy or to have

their children immunised.

" We are well received in most places, but there are few instances when some

people mock us, especially those who are drunk. But, generally, they appreciate

our lectures and agree that they can make a change through responsible

behaviour, " said Mlotshwa.

Besides its prevention efforts, MSF is dispensing antiretrovirals (ARVs), which

can help delay the onset of AIDS, to about 2,000 HIV-positive patients at

Bulawayo's Mpilo Hospital. The humanitarian agency is also expanding in rural

Matabeleland, a vast region in western Zimbabwe, where it assisting about 500

patients, mostly women.

Zimbabwe has the world's fourth highest prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS: just under

25 percent of the adult population is HIV-positive, while an estimated 2,500

Zimbabweans die of the disease every week, robbing households of breadwinners,

parents and loved ones.

Mlotshwa, clutching his pamphlets and condoms as he heads for yet another bar,

is determined to do his part in preventing the number of needless tragedies from

rising.

[ENDS]

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