Bukoba Fighting AIDS By All Means
- Category: Health
- Date 30-09-2007
- 398 views
Bukoba: They dance, they sing, they dramatise against the HIV monster! They call it all sorts of awful names: “the killer”, “the tormentor”, “the merciless”, “the destroyer”, “the bad neighbour”, “the maker of orphans and widows”, “the poverty-bringer”, “the evil one”, and “the home breaker”! To a visitor, Bukoba is a community united against one unwelcome guest in their midst, HIV/AIDS.
From far and for a while, I have heard of the drastic decline of the HIV pandemic in this chiefly rural part of Tanzania, which is rarely accessible from most of the major towns of this nation. It is here, in Bukoba, about twenty-five years ago in 1983 that the first cases of HIV/AIDS were initially diagnosed. The 1988 National AIDS Control Program report was also to indicate that the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Bukoba town stood at 30% of her population; yet in an interesting twist of events, the May 2007 Epidemiological department of the ministry of health reported that the HIV prevalence in the entire Kagera Region has declined to 3.7%. This is by far a better performance against HIV/AIDS than in most parts of the world. For instance, Uganda which is touted globally as a model society that has reduced HIV/AIDS prevalence has not achieved this level – it is said to have stabilised at 6%, regularly tending to increase again!
The impressive effort against HIV/AIDS in Bukoba is widely evident, and does not merely derive from foreign interventions. It is more about the local people’s commitment to find a solution about their predicament, no matter how hard, through all possible media at their disposal, and any additional support by humanitarian agencies is only to invigorate them further. And this is an exclusive testimony of a first-hand eyewitness of the goings-on in Bukoba, having visited communities in the districts of Bukoba Urban, Muleba and Bukoba Rural.
On 18th – 20th September 2007, this writer witnessed the power of local people’s inventiveness in tackling the problems that face them. First, it was in at Kitahya village, Nyakibimbili Ward in Bukoba Rural. A group of thirty-seven participants gathered in a church hall to discuss how to sustain their lives as they all had taken HIV tests and confirmed they were infected with the virus that causes AIDS. Among them a 29-year-old man whose wife had already died, leaving behind a 2-year-old infant, which has also tested positive already. In attendance also is a retired teacher who tested positive with the virus three years ago (2004) but has tested negative at the beginning of September 2007.
He is anxious to return to the screening centre on appointment for a confirmatory test, but other participants have informed him that he should not take the recent test-results for granted, as it may reflect his positive adherence to the drugs other than being cured of the HIV. In the same gathering is a woman, apparently in her 60s, inquiring about her likely fate since she is too weak, therefore unable to walk the huge distance from her home to collect drugs from the distribution centre. Her colleagues say that it is time a reliable person would be identified in the family or community and introduced to the “centre” to assist in collecting the required drugs. The entire group are living positively with HIV but there is no trace of sadness in their eyes; they smile, and crack jokes.
Someone narrated how she once announced at a meeting that she was HIV-positive. “Everyone struggled to have a look at me … people at the back of the hall craned their necks to see how an HIV-positive person looks. I was shocked. Many of them were certainly HIV-positive like me but they were just not aware!” she said, to the amusement of everyone.
Kihaya dance is another media of HIV prevention in the Kagera region. Women and men gather at a selected compound in the village and wiggle their bodies in unison with the drums and voices; in the end almost the entire community assembles to be entertained. We arrived at Itawa (Bukoba Urban) to find only 15 middle-aged men and women who use music and drama to fight HIV/AIDS. The group leader assured us, “Just wait, we shall soon bring the entire community to this place.” Then the drums beat, the voices crooned, and the bodies squirmed. In an instant about 120 people had arrived and the concert ensued, before it was suddenly stopped to give way to a discussion about the lessons learnt from the performance.
“Being HIV positive is not the end of life” a young man nattered from the background. Another man added, “With good use of medical services, we can enjoy healthy lives even though we are infected with the virus.” an elderly lady also interjected, “Everyone should test for HIV to plan for our lives properly as President Kikwete has told us.” The same scenes were repeated at Mikoni village in Katerero Ward (Bukoba Rural) and in the fishing community of Ilemera Southern B (Muleba District).
The resolve of the wananchi to tackle the HIV/AIDS problem is really impressive as is the level of knowledge about the scourge, which apparently is different from other parts of Tanzania. The Kagera Zone Aids Control Programme (KZACP) Project Coordinator Dr. Titus Kamwamwa says that the community has attained a high level of HIV/AIDS awareness from the diverse behaviour change communication (BCC) channels at play. “Different methods are used to mobilise the population within the localities. Examples include drama, theatre, choirs, football, and volleyball,” Dr. Kamwamwa states.
The KZACP has not achieved the results single-handedly. There are other anti-AIDS fighters in the region, including Kagera Zone Global Fund Project, Counsonet, Local Authorities, Kagera Zone Rapid Funding Envelop, and Karagwe Network of Religious Leaders (KANERELA). As if to challenge religious leaders elsewhere in Tanzania to join the anti-AIDS fray, Bishop Elisa Buberwa of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (North-West Diocese), comments: “The church has contributed significantly towards enhancing the decline of HIV/AIDS in Kagera by a measure which is different from other regions of Tanzania.” He goes on, “It is a conjoined endeavour like this one, which will bring impact in fighting HIV/AIDS in this East African region. I believe that with prayers and Gods’ help the fight against AIDS will be done, and done successfully.”
Clearly, the region has become the hub of anti-AIDS struggle in the Great Lakes Region. It is for this reason perhaps that KZACP received Malawian and Uganda guests to witness the success registered so far against the pandemic and learn the effective anti-AIDS tricks used. According to the UNAIDS report (2006), sub-Saharan Africa is home to 24.7 million HIV infected people of the 39.5 million worldwide; and it is here that 2.8 million new infections occurred last year, against 2.1 million deaths. Under the circumstances, action against HIV/AIDS as is ongoing in the Kagera region is only appropriate – and should be widespread.
However, all is not rosy for Bukoba. The community has to contend with the upshots of HIV/AIDS devastation in the area. Many inhabitants are infected, whereas some homes are in a state of desolation with pitiful survivors: widows, widowers and orphans. Bishop Buberwa laments, “We now have drugs for reducing the virulence of the HIV, yet the use of ARVs does not reduce the number of women, men and children who need shelter, schooling and basic social needs.” Besides, antiretroviral service centres are not only scarce, they are also too distant for some people. For the eligible individuals still, the bureaucracy involved in accessing the drugs is deplorably high.
The national HIV testing crusade was launched in Kagera region on Saturday 22nd September 2007. The residents were already expressing their readiness to participate actively; however, they also wondered what the government has put in place to ensure that people who test positive do not regret their involvement in the exercise.
By Venansio Ahabwe
Source: Peering Eye, Sunday Citizen