Health News,His Royal Highness Chief Sinazongwe has 80,000 subjects, 700 headmen, 160
villages, 14 children and three wives. He also takes a quarterly HIV
test to reassure people that all is well at the top.
“My chiefdom is vast and the role I play is very huge,” the 70-year-old chief said. “I have great trust within my chiefdom. I’m in
charge of peace and unity. I’m a peace maker.”
Visitors scrape low and clap rhythmically before HRH, a member of the revered “House of Chiefs” and the latest in a line of headmen to
protect Sinazongwe’s culture.
AIDS experts say the chief’s public and regular HIV testing carries a strong message in rural Sinazongwe, a pocket of almost 200,000 people
in southwest Zambia.
Improved testing and effective drugs have put the worst of the AIDS crisis behind Zambia, where 1.2 million of a 16.5 million population
live with HIV.
About 21,000 people die of AIDS-related deaths a year, down from a peak of 70,000 in 2003, according to UNAIDS data. But a stubborn
adherence to superstition and risky traditions persists, hampering
efforts to lower the number of AIDS-related deaths and with new HIV
infections still high among young people and key groups, said United
Nations data.
“Conventional medicines can prolong your life, but our people have a lot of attachment to traditional healers and doctors,” said Martin
Chongo, acting health director for the district.
Roots, leaves, bark and indigenous medicines are routinely used in Zambia to treat illness and cure sexually transmitted diseases such as
genital warts, herpes and chlamydia.
Healers usually cut patients’ skin with a razor then apply home-made remedies directly to the flesh: a practice that carries a risk of blood
sharing and infection. The same razors are used again and again. Chongo
said it would be insensitive to discourage traditional medicine but he
has summoned traditional healers to a health summit, urging them to stop
re-using razors.
“We are not sitting idle but it is a very difficult issue as a health authority,” Chongo said.
He is typical of officials who must walk a delicate line in Zambia — embracing the best that modern medicine offers to control the epidemic,
while tiptoeing around questionable local conventions or challenging
risky behavior.
“Unfortunately, in the villages they have their own cultural beliefs,” said Stephen Shajanika, a district health director. “The
government does not come into conflict with the people. We try to
encourage everyone. It’s a way of life. It’s a democracy.”
