HIV/AIDS and luo culture in Bondo District, Kenya since 1983: a historical perspective

Abstract

The study investigates the cultural beliefs, practices and norms of the Luo Community in relation to the transmission and prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Bondo region from a historical perspective. By focusing on the beach settlements and the neighbouring islands which are highly cosmopolitan, the study aims at highlighting the existence of other factors responsible for the high prevalence rates in the region apart from the perceived cultural beliefs and practices of the Luo. Scholarlyliterature on HIV/AIDS in Africa, Kenya, and Nyanza is medically oriented to the extent of ignoring the social cultural dimensions of the pandemic. Consequently, information about historical permutations of social mores, belief systems, sexual practices and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa is fragmented. Unless mY/AIDS in Nyanza is analyzed within the social context of the region, misconceptions that Luo culture is the culprit responsible for the spread of the pandemic will persist. HIV/AIDS is deeply rooted in political, economic and culture forces which interrelate, and whose impacts have got far reaching implications on the life of the people of Bondo, as well as on development. The study was guided by a theoretical framework based on "risk" analysis model as explained by the dictionary of Epidemiology. In the attempts to analyze the prevalence of mY/AIDS in Bondo, epidemiology as applied, implies the study of distribution of health related or events in specified populations and the application of the very study to the control of health problems. In order to achieve relevance and reliability, both primary and secondary materials relevant to the study were used. The study however, relied on fieldwork as the fountain of most information that has been incorporated in the research fmdings. The research reveals that what goes on at the benches of Bondo affects their environs. Further, it reveals that it is not Luo culture as such that has predisposed the people living in Bondo to my JAIDS, but rather, the fact that indigenous cultures have been undermined by economic hardships. Among other consequences, these have resulted in the beach culture manifesting itself in perverted sex practices in places such as Misori, Lwanda K'otieno, Uhanya, Wichlurn, Wagusu and Usenge. The beach culture is subversive to the extent that it poses challenges in designing appropriate measurers to manage my/ AIDS in the region. Recommendations are made to the effect that there must be collective responsibility in the management of HIV/AIDS in the region. More emphasis should be directed towards Health Education.