Africa AIDS Crisis Exacerbated by Charlatans

April 20, 2006

Families lose all to pay for alternative medicine

Njei Moses Timah (njemotim)

Published on 2006-04-20 15:37 (KST)

For over two decades the scourge of AIDS has robbed many Africans of

their joy and loved ones, and there seems to be no end in sight. I

have been monitoring the evolution of this disease and its impact on

the rural population in Cameroon. One such rural area is Batibo.

The Batibo Health District is located in the Northwest Province of

Cameroon. According to official government statistics, this province

has the highest incidence of HIV of the country's 10 provinces.

I paid a visit to Dr. Yumo (head of the Batibo AIDS Treatment Center)

in his office recently to get an update on the situation of the AIDS

pandemic in Batibo Health District. I asked him about the statistics

of HIV/AIDS in Batibo Health District.

" We have not carried out a survey to know the rate of infection in

this District, but what we can give you here as concrete statistics is

that HIV stands as the first cause of adult mortality in this Health

District, " explained Dr. Yumo. " According to the 2004 national

demographic survey, the Northwest province has an incidence of 8.7

percent (11.9 percent female and 5.2 percent male), and this can be

extrapolated to the Batibo Health District. "

" It is estimated that the population of this health District is one

hundred thousand. We can assume that there are about eight thousand

seven hundred people living with HIV/AIDS in Batibo Health District, "

he added. Cameroon (pop. 16 million) has a national HIV prevalence

rate of 5.5 percent.

I took some time to meet with HIV patients, contacting four in all. It

should be noted that, owing to the stigma surrounding the disease, few

patients are willing to open up and admit their illness, let alone

discuss it at length.

An herbalist applying a concoction in Batibo, Cameroon.

I managed to gain the confidence of one 28-year-old lady, whom I will

call " Sally. " She let me talk with her freely and even to take photos.

In reporting about HIV, one has to strike a balance between the need

to inform the general public and the need to maintain the

confidentiality of patients.

This widow with four children (youngest two years) lives with her

parents, who are poor and old. When I came visiting, her father (over

80) sat by the fireside and wore a face of indifference to the

torments around him. The mother, who was much younger, was grinding

some herbal medicine brought by a " native doctor " who introduced

himself as Dr. .

" I can treat all diseases of the internal organs and those related to

sex. I can make a woman who brings forth only girls conceive a boy. I

can treat sexual impotence, waist pain, and chronic headache, " he said.

When I inquired how he came about that wealth of knowledge, his reply

was, " When I sleep in the night in a room alone with my legs crossed,

the spirits reveal these medicinal herbs to me. "

I inquired from the mother of the patient what " Dr. "

specifically came to treat. She said her (HIV infected) daughter Sally

had some abnormal condition on her abdomen that the herbalist claims

he can rectify. I told the patient and her parents in the presence of

the herbalist that it was necessary they discontinue herbal medicine

and concentrate on medicines obtained from the hospital.

The herbalist was quick to discourage my idea, saying, " People who

receive treatment from me do not need to take 'white man's medicine'

again. " I reminded him that I believe there are certainly some

diseases that he cannot treat. " The only diseases that I cannot treat

are AIDS and cancer, " he replied. Here was a " doctor " attending to one

of the complications of AIDS without knowing that his patient was down

with AIDS.

Another patient, I'll call him " Imma, " had taken the same path as

Sally. When I visited him in November 2005, he was a shadow of his

former self. He looked very lean and much older than his 38 years. The

smile had completely disappeared from his face. He was in constant pain.

" I cannot bear the pains coming from my ribs. Each time I cough, it is

as if the ribs will fall off, " he said.

Imma was suffering from tuberculosis (a disease associated with

HIV/AIDS). He had moved from hospital to hospital and from one

herbalist to another with no improvement of his condition.

" This cough cannot even allow me to lie down and as such I sleep

sitting on this chair, " he said in a barely audible voice. " I have

suffered enough from this sickness, my business is down, and I do not

own anything in this world; and yet I cry with pain every day. "

Shaking his head, with tears running down his cheeks, he added, " I do

not know what to do ... I do not know what to do. " I was told that

Imma died bankrupt in January. AIDS had robbed him of all his earthly

belongings and replaced them with pain. Death finally came to put an

end to his pains.

The Cameroon government has put in enormous effort to convince and

orient HIV-positive people toward the various treatment centers

nationwide, but somehow the lure of alternative medicines still

attracts some patients to risky adventures with charlatans.

As illustrated in Imma's story, AIDS impoverishes and bankrupts whole

families before finally robbing them of their loved ones. As often

happens, the breadwinners (mother and father) exhaust all the family

assets before dying, leaving behind orphans with no means of surviving

in this ever-competitive world.

An adapted version of this article will appear on the Moghamoan Web

site and on my personal Web site.

http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=7 & no=2869\

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April 20, 2006