Traditional Leaders in Zambia:
A Weapon Against AIDS
Senior Chief Mukuni of the Toka-Leya
people of Zambia values tradition. But
he draws a line when it comes to certain
sexual practices, and for a practical
reason.
"We know that many of our people are
dying as a result of these traditional
practices," he told the Times of Zambia
last December. "We have agreed to
start discouraging our people from
getting involved in these practices,
because if they are not careful, we shall
all be wiped out and there will be no
chiefdoms to rule."
The threat that faces Chief Mukuni and
his people is HIV/AIDS, and Zambia has
had its share of the tragedy. The
country's infection rate in adults stands
at 16 percent, or more than one and a
half million people. There are a reported
two hundred new infections every day,
and the disease has orphaned about
600,000 children.
In a dramatic effort to involve and
educate "traditional rulers" in Zambia
about what can be done to help stop the
spread of the disease, the Zambia
Integrated Health Program (ZIHP), led by
Abt Associates under contract to the US
Agency for International Development
(USAID), organized a countrywide
campaign focused on the chiefs and their indunas, or representatives. USAID and
Abt Associates recognized that chiefs
have substantial influence in the rural
areas of Zambia. In a breakthrough for
Zambian culture, some of these
traditional rulers are speaking out, and
the campaign has helped raise
awareness that certain traditional
practices can expose people to HIV
and AIDS. Chief Mukuni is one of the
leading voices of alarm.
"We have agreed to start
discouraging our people from
getting involved in these practices,
because if they are not careful, we
shall all be wiped out and there
will be no chiefdoms to rule."
Another is Senior Chief Bright
Nalubamba, Chairman of the Royal
Foundation of Zambia, the formal
organization of Zambian traditional
rulers. "If a man uses a condom," Chief
Nalubamba says, "he is...protecting
three lives: the man's, the woman's, and
the unborn child's." Nalubamba, Mukuni
and others stress that cultural practices
such as sexual cleansing (based on the
belief that a widow or widower can be
cleansed of the influence of the ghost of
their former spouse by having sex with a
relative of the deceased) and wife
inheritance (a woman whose husband has died, perhaps of AIDS, automatically
becomes the wife of the man's brother,
who may not be infected) contribute to
the spread of HIV/AIDS.
In November 2003, together with the
Zambian Ministry of Health and other
organizations, ZIHP held a workshop for
chiefs and indunas in the capital city of
Lusaka to discuss the problem of
traditional practices and AIDS. More
than 100 chiefs and 300 indunas
showed up, the biggest turnout of
traditional rulers in years, to discuss
how to fight the disease. Zambian
President Mwanawasa told the chiefs, in
a paper read at the conference, "You
are...able to induce behavioral change
with respect to such matters as sexual
cleansing, wife inheritance, early
marriages and initiation, which in some
cases contribute to the spread of
HIV/AIDS."
The position of President Mwanawasa is
not without controversy, as traditions
vary widely throughout the country.
Several chiefs in a later workshop in
Mbereshi, Luapula Province, objected to
the elimination of rituals.
"To defeat HIV/AIDS requires
wisdom and courageous
leadership, especially when
challenging those traditions that
speed the spread of AIDS."
"As far as we are concerned, sexual
cleansing has to continue because
without it we don't have any tradition," said acting Chief Lukwesa. Lukwesa's
superior, Senior Mwata Kazembe XIX,
said that using condoms "would defeat
the purpose of cleansing." As an article
in one newspaper covering the workshop
put it, "Many chiefs…said that their
villages risked being cursed if 'true'
sexual cleansing did not take place, as
the deceased would come back to haunt
them."
Perhaps the strongest belief of all:
Witchcraft causes AIDS. "Here people
are not just dying of the talked-about
AIDS," said a woman in the Western
fishing town of Mulamba, "but there is
also AIDS caused by witches."
Even at the November workshop, which
drew a favorable response to calls for
action, only a handful of chiefs
volunteered themselves
to be tested
for HIV/AIDS.
When traditional rulers speak out in Zambia, their word carries weight.
Besides the initial
workshop in
Lusaka, ZIHP
conducted workshops
in the
provinces, sponsored
a counseling
course for indunas,
and trained trainers,
who would then
spread the word
about AIDSprevention
to the
villages. ZIHP even
bought bicycles for the trainers so they
could reach their fellow villagers. In
total, USAID spent $600,000 on the
project.
Traditional rulers have been enlisted to
fight HIV/AIDS with success in other
countries, notably Ghana and Uganda.
US ambassador to Zambia Martin
Brennan fully supported the effort to do
the same in Zambia, and recognized
that belief systems were a major
obstacle. "To defeat HIV/AIDS,"
Brennan said, "requires wisdom and
courageous leadership, especially when
challenging those traditions that speed
the spread of AIDS. There are those
who say that tradition comes first. Wise
leaders, however, know that traditions
exist for the good of the community, and
they know that when new threats make
old practices dangerous, tradition must
adapt to protect the community and its
heritage."
Some chiefs agree. For example, a new
practice has grown up recently in the
kingdom of Mwata Kazembe in Luapula
Province, replacing actual sexual
cleansing with the symbolic gesture of
wearing white beads on the right hand of
the widowed spouse. In other areas,
sexual cleansing has not been practiced
for years, if at all. In the Copperbelt
Province of Zambia, cleansing is
performed by smearing corn mash over
the widowed spouse's body. Whether these and similar practices will take a
strong enough hold around the country
to replace sexual cleansing entirely,
remains to be seen.
Dr. Nevers Mumba, Vice President of Zambia, addresses traditional rulers at November workshop in Lusaka, Zambia.
HIV/AIDS in Zambia is clearly a social
problem as much as a health problem.
It is a battle with traditions and beliefs as
much as with a virus. A handful of
enlightened chiefs, together with Abt
Associates, USAID, UNDP, the Zambian
government, and organizations such as
Women for Change, have taken up the
fight. But the struggle is far from over.
ZIHP has now ended, but under a new
project in which Abt Associates is
involved, the work with the chiefs will
continue.
"It's too early to draw any meaningful
conclusions," says ZIHP Deputy Chief
of Party Brighton Bwacha. "But what is
clear is that, as a result of the workshops
and training, the chiefs are
speaking out, and the news is spreading
like wildfire. Even chiefs who weren't
involved are speaking out and making
HIV/AIDS a priority."
Given the respect that traditional rulers
receive in Zambia, the impact of the
project should be felt for years to come.
