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The Way HIV/AIDS In Africa Is Being Handled
by Christine Akiteng

When foreign experts from the West took charge of the health aspect of the fight against AIDS in Africa, they were doing so in line with what the West believed was the solution to the problem. They saw the epidemic as a highly complex medical problem that needed biomedical “expertise” that Africans did not have.

So, what's wrong with that? You might ask. On the surface, I would say nothing. But while international donors talk about empowering Africans, they avoid the negative dynamics that top-down command-and-control micro-management so often elicits. Donors add conditionality to foreign assistance that creates unhealthy process of interaction with African governments, institutions and communities.

Despite massive aid, development has not lived up to expectations in Africa. Yet there have been very few admissions of failure on the part of international development agencies. The blame has always been piled on Africans and their poor management of public funds or their change resistant cultures. Instead of stepping back and really seeing what is happening, international development agencies hire new consultants and African international development “experts” who carry out new analyses and writes more project documents, apparently oblivious to the mistakes made before.

The general view of most donors agencies is to combat traditional African cultural values, attitudes, beliefs and perceptions which many see as an inherently anti-development; condone unequal relationships, is intolerant to change and perpetuates the spread of HIV/AIDS. Even for many people who claim to speak for Africans the racist attitudes about Africans are still very alive. One just has to say “I am African and I know what is good for me” or “You are wrong. This is what my reality is” and the hidden racial attitudes come flying out of the woodworks. Suddenly you are an inferior African who can’t think in scientific abstracts, jumps to mysticm when confronted with logical analysis or are ruled by irrepressible sexual impulses that your brain power is diminished. To think that one might have something important to learn from those he or she considers intellectual inferiors is just too much to handle. This is what I call the SnOB factor.

To the detriment of Africa, each day sprouts yet more instant “African experts," who do more damage than good. An international assignment to Africa, complete with a wall fenced house, servants and security guards, a four wheel drive Land rover or Nissan Pathfinder and diplomatic cocktails; or a few volunteer months in an African village or even a couple of power point presentations in a 5-star hotel and being driven around to see policy makers at the drop of a hat and the Westerner is an “expert” on Africa: they have completely identified the problems and have formulated solutions. These “experts” cannot be reasoned with because they feel they know what is best for Africa and for Africans. In my twelve years in international development, I can honestly say I’ve met only a handful of diplomats and international aid workers who I believed to have had the best interest of Africans at heart. On the other hand there were more international volunteers who tried to really integrate and understand the problems of Africa from the African’s perspective. And I would say more female volunteers than male volunteers, and more Europeans than North Americans.

While many Africans appreciate efforts of technologically-developed nations in helping us combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic, many believe that Africans should be in the forefront of this collective effort to fight the HIV/AIDS scourge. On how the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa is being handled, one African had this to say: “Much of what people do is about comparing Africa to Western countries or trying to make Africa like one of these countries. That is just impossible Africa is Africa”. Another was concerned that “Instead of creating an environments in which Africans can feel free in the sense of being able to make their own choices based on what they experience and interpret as quality of life we see certain options dangled before us that have very little to do with the way we live our lives and what makes sense to us.”

It's impossible to find a solution for a major problem like AIDS without the perspective of those involved, never mind giving a voice to those who have been silenced. Nor, indeed, is there anything wrong in employing other cultural disciplines, since nothing exists in brilliant isolation. Donors, policy makers, researchers and behavioural scientist interested in helping Africa fight the HIV/IDS epidemic must become Africa-literate to understand and witness the price Africans are paying (with their lives) for the way the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa is being handled. All the elaborate ‘objectives’ and ‘inputs’ attractively transformed by computerized graphics - for all their good intentions mean nothing if we can not allow our lenses to tilt away from focusing on what is “wrong” with Africa, African cultures and people and try to focus more on what is “right” with Africa, its cultures and people. African communities in their own way of dealing with with HIV/AIDS have taught us all that the engine for stopping the epidemic and producing effective and sustained behaviour change lies in the community resources and sense of communality they possess. A combination of African-centered development paradigms and the mobilization and strengthening of the local expertise and knowledge base can prove to be extremely successful as seen in countries like Nigeria, Uganda and Namibia.

Finding serious tentative solution to combating HIV/AIDS requires becoming better acquainted with the difficulties of the problem which we are trying to solve. We can learn from our past mistakes but first we must acknowledge that mistakes have been made. This is the first step forward that will bring us nearer to the truth, even though we may never know the truth for certain.

Christine Akiteng is a Cross-Cultural Consultant specializing in African Business and Social Etiquette. Christne's website: http://www.africanetiquette.com

Article Source: AfroArticles.com

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