Biting the Conservative Bullet in Kenya! The Quagmire of Sexually Explicit and Scary Pictorial Metaphors in AIDS Posters

Abstract

AIDS as an incurable ailment is no stranger to humankind. Most healthconscious watchdogs, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS, have lobbied for aggressive AIDS campaigns to sensitize populations within sub-Saharan Africa on AIDS prevention interventions (Doka 1997; Sontag 1988).This paper examines the cognitive effects of metaphors and metonymies emerging from sexually explicit images and scary pictorial representations in AIDS posters among respondents in the Maseno Division of Kenya to establish whether sexually explicit AIDS posters can be culturally accepted in a region gravely affected by the AIDS pandemic (cf. Murano, 2009;Magonya, 2012). Maseno Division is located along the Kisumu-Busia highway connecting Kenya and Uganda. It is approximately 20 kilometers from Kisumu town, which is the headquarters of Nyanza province in Kenya. The estimated population of Maseno division is approximately 69,000, with the predominant linguistic groups being the Luo and Luhyia (cf. National Coordinating Agency for Population and Development, 2005). According to Sigot (2001) and the National Coordinating Agency for Population and Development (NCAPD2005), Nyanza province is the epicenter of heightened prevalence rates in Kenya. Besides this, the NACC (2012) comprehensive report on Kenya’s AIDS epidemic states that Nyanza Province not only records the highest HIV prevalence rate at 13.9%, but also contributes to one third of new infections in Kenya. Further, the NCAPD posits that 35% of Kisumu county’s population is HIV positive and the myriad of factors fuelling the heightened AIDS-related deaths in the region include complacency, retardedpace in behavior change due to cultural practices like wife inheritance, low condom use due to limited information on their usage, and inaccessibility of antiretrovirals to most seropositive persons. Stigmatisation of AIDS was evident among Maseno Division respondents during the data collection process, as some respondents refused to participate in our study because of an erroneous assumption that we had the intention of subjecting them to an HIV test after they completed the questionnaire.