St. Matthew's United Church of Canada
Face to Face - Aids
Face to Face Zambia Info
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    AIDS

    "About 25,000 Zambian Children Are Infected With HIV." By Musopelo Mumba PANA Wire Service, April 7, 1999

    Officials from Zambia's HIV/AIDS program estimate that 25,000 children in the country are infected with HIV annually, with most of the infections occurring prenatally, during pregnancy or at the time of birth, or from breast-feeding. The ministry reports that more than 95 percent of mothers breast feed their children during the first few months of life; however, most HIV-positive mothers have few--if any--other alternatives. Also, the Zambia HIV Sentinel Surveillance indicates that as of 1994, the child prevalence for HIV infection was as high as 25 percent in urban areas and up to 13 percent in rural areas.

    In Zambia thousands of HIV/AIDs orphans are cared for by grandparents, aunts or uncles. In fact, most adults now care for children that are not theirs. This situation puts a lot of strain on families.

    Churches in Zambia are increasingly involved in outreach to people with HIV/AIDs providing medical attention and support. The UCZ is running a millennium project on HIV/AIDs to help orphans and raise awareness of the disease. There have been church services dedicated especially to HIV/AIDs. Preachers are beginning to talk about HIV/AIDs and people living with the virus have told congregations what it is like to be infected.

    Such services are still isolated even in a culture that sees HIV/AIDs as a taboo subject. People will not generally mention HIV/AIDs. When the death of an important person is announced on TV, the commentator will say it was due to a long illness even when everybody knows it was from HIV/AIDs. Many people who find out they are HIV positive go straight to the witchfinder to discover who bewitched them and made them fall ill.

    The UCC has made HIV/AIDs in Africa a priority in its global mission and has allotted special funds for the work of partners, like the UCZ, on HIV/AIDs education, prevention and care.

    Suzanne Matale, Women’s Program Officer of the Christian Council of Zambia, says “HIV/AIDs is a sum total of what is going on in Africa. You cannot separate it from poverty, hunger and underdevelopment,”.
    She continues, “The world needs to come to terms with its role in our history and our past – with slavery and colonization.”

    The whole world must be involved in helping Africa reduce HIV/AIDs infection,” she says emphatically. “They, the wealthy nations, are part of the problem, so they need to be part of the solution.”

    The UCC has launched a two-year fundraising, educational and advocacy campaign to respond to the HIV/AIDs pandemic. The goals of the Beads of Hope campaign are to raise $1 million to support the work of overseas partners responding to the HIV/AIDs crisis, to increase awareness of the issues and to encourage action to improve policies that impact the lives of people with HIV/AIDs. The Christian Council of Zambia is one of the church’s overseas partners responding to the HIV/AIDs crisis.

    For more information on AIDS in Zambia, visit the following website:

    http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2000/aids/stories/women.children/

    http://www.medguide.org.zm/aids/aidszam.htm

    Paragraphs were also taken from articles by Paula Butler, “Tackling AIDS in Africa” and from “The fight against AIDs” out of the Minutes for Mission of August 25, 2002.

    Did you know?

    • AIDS is Zambia's biggest health challenge. The disease affects both women and men, and medication is either unavailable or too expensive for most of those infected. Even prevention programs suffer from a lack of resources. AIDS has devastated the working population of the country and left hundreds of thousands of children orphaned.
    • Zambia has one of the lowest population densities in the world. It also has one of the highest urban populations in sub-Saharan Africa. Half of Zambia's people live in its cities. Close to 2 million people live in Lusaka, the capital.
    • Although most of Zambia's rulers and chiefs have been men, at least two women have ruled the Luvale people, who live near the border with Angola. The Luvale's first chief was a woman named Kenga Naweji.
    • The male Makishi dancers are famous for their fearsome masks and elaborate costumes. Traditionally, they represent the spirits of the dead.