The African continent, a region rich with resources and inundated by poverty is also one that has been the original location for the AIDS epidemic. The onset of the epidemic began in the 1970’s with ever increasing numbers of people catching this cureless disease that attacks one’s immune system. As the various nations in Africa continued to see a rise in deaths and new cases of the AIDS virus something interesting happened in the 1990’s in Uganda and Kagera. While other nations continued to see the surge of devastation that was occurring as a result of the AIDS virus, these countries began to see a serious decline in AIDS cases. How is it that these two regions were seeing a decline when none of the other nations saw any relief from the devastating symptoms and outcomes of the virus? Uganda, after all was incredibly poor, meanwhile Botswana, which fared much better with the economy and the condition of the people, continued to see AIDS run rampant throughout their country. One would assume that the poorer countries would be the ones to see the worst of the AIDS epidemic, but instead the country that was much richer and organized was facing the terrors of the AIDS virus instead of a decline. The following paper will examine the actions that the Ugandans had been taking that helped create a decline in the outbreak, while other parts of Africa, like Botswana continued to see tragic health issues and deaths as a result of the AIDS epidemic.
Each of these countries was handling the issue of AIDS very differently, which resulted in drastically different outcomes. Interestingly enough the poorer nation of Uganda where hospital care was rare and home care more common was handling the spread of the virus much better than Botswana who had full facility hospitals and access to medication that was not available in Uganda. One of the important aspects of understanding this difference in the spread of AIDS is to examine what the people of Uganda did that was so much better than Botswana. The answer to that is, not that they did anything better per se, but with home care being the only option, family and friends were seeing the symptoms and suffering of the AIDS victims up close and personal. By being limited to the home cares system, the care takers were seeing firsthand the level of suffering that came with the disease.
The people of Uganda saw the urgency in informing one another of the tragedy that would ensue for anyone who caught the virus and began to inform one another of the risks that casual unprotected sex could have on their lives. Despite the level of poverty that was present in Uganda, the government and the people were spreading the warning in the threat associated with the AIDS virus to a larger degree enough to impact how the citizens of this nation were handling themselves. What they saw and heard was enough to make some drastic changes in the behavior of the men and women in Uganda, which ultimately resulted in the decreasing cases of the AIDS virus by the 1990’s.
There were some specific things occurring that must be pointed out when discussing the shift in behavior among the Ugandan people. The phenomenon that was occurring in Uganda is called “collective efficacy.” Collective efficacy showed the ability of people to join together and help one another (Epstein, 2007). A decency and level of humanity was increasing among this group who felt the importance of citizens helping one another. A sincere care and concern had developed among the people that encouraged them to educate one another in a manner that actually created a shift. With no one immune to the risk and exposure of AIDS, the government had warned the people of the imminent danger of catching the AIDS virus. This created a “collective urgency” among the people who become anxious to do whatever was necessary to safeguard themselves and their loved ones from catching this death sentence (Epstein, 2007).
The women’s movement was one of the factors that influenced the behavior of the Ugandan people dramatically. In 1985 a small group of women of attended the UN Conference on Women in Nairobi, Kenya despite the lack of progress that had occurred as a result of the dictatorships of Idi Amin and Milton Obote (Epstein, 2007). The empowering ideas that they learned at the conference is something they brought back with them to their communities. When Yoweri Museveni came to power in 1986, he encouraged community organization and self-help, which further encouraged the women rise (Epstein, 2007). These new movements of empowered women were rallying all around the country to keep their daughter in school, to become small business owners, while challenging the discrimination against the female gender (Epstein, 2007).
As laws that once favored men, such as rape, divorce, and the lack of women’s property right changed, women began to gain some power in their position in the community. The fear of AIDS was always a topic of conversation as well, and women’s groups like the Ugandan Association of Co-Wives and Concubines began to speak up against putting up with an unfaithful husband (Epstein, 2007). Whereas women used-to be forced to accept and continue to have sexual relations with their husbands even when they were unfaithful, now the women refused because of the risk that it was to their own lives. Not only were women willing to divorce to protect themselves from the disease, but also to protect their future children from contracting it in utero. In addition to their sense of strength to refuse this behavior from their spouses, they were also talking to one another about the tragedy that AIDS brought with it. As they cared for those members of society who were dying from AIDS, they began to spread the rumors of how horrific the reality of living with AIDS was. According to Epstein (2007), “During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the fraction of Ugandan men with multiple partners sharply decreased, and as a result—as will be described in more detail in the next chapter—the HIV infection rate fell by roughly 60 percent.”
Clearly the women’s movement played a large part in spreading the word about AIDS and standing up against their partner’s infidelity. As these events unfolded, the people of Uganda were much more aware than those in Botswana of the reality of this dreadful disease. The collective response of the Ugandan people was to change their ways in their sexual encounters to avoid becoming yet another victim of this life threatening disease that was killing people in the worst ways. Many things began to change in Uganda after the women’s movement that allowed girls to remain in school, rape to be illegal, and other atrocities that were happening against women that was responsible for spreading the AIDS virus. As these changes in society took place, the decrease in AIDS cases did as well.
If these changes were occurring in a poor nation like Uganda, then what was happening in Botswana where people were much better off that the AIDS epidemic continued without slowing down? After all Botswana had better resources than Uganda to educate the people and care for their dying AIDS patients. Unfortunately, in Botswana, people were not discussing the issues and realities of AIDS the way that they were in Uganda. The subject matter still remained somewhat taboo and was swept under the rug. In addition to the ignorance of the people and their knowledge about AIDS, they also were not seeing the grueling picture of death that the Ugandan’s were seeing as a result of their home care of the patients. In Botswana, when people contracted the AIDS virus they were treated and cared for in the hospital where friends and family were not having to face the ugly truth about what life becomes for anyone who contracts the virus. The people of Botswana were not handling the bodies of their dying family and friends the way the people of Uganda were forced to do. Instead the Batswana were somewhat shielded from seeing the gruesome details of how AIDS affects the lives of those who contract the virus. In addition to not seeing it, they were somewhat out of touch with the heartbreaking aspect of what AIDS was doing to the victims, which allowed them to continue on with their lifestyle without the fear that the people of Uganda felt about AIDS. As a result, the richest of the African nations continued to have a severe epidemic that was destroying their communities across the country.
Looking at the way these two nations approached the epidemic is extremely eye-opening to the difference it made on how many more people would become victims. Clearly, education and talking about these difficult issues is crucial to do in order to minimize the number of casualties. Perhaps there is a valuable lesson to be learned by the way the Ugandan citizens handled their sick population. Instead of protecting the citizens from hearing and seeing the truth, it is better to allow the truth to be seen up close and personal. When people see the torment of the AIDS patients, the fear of how bad AIDS really is will become the best method of prevention. Nothing could impact the person from changing their reckless sexual behavior than caring for someone who is dying from the AIDS virus. This is what seems to have happened in Uganda that was not happening in Botswana. Ugandans were completely informed about what AIDS could do to them or their loved ones, but the citizens of Botswana remained sheltered while spreading this death sentence between one another. It appears that when one is whole heartedly participating in the care of a dying AIDS patient, there is nothing that would allow them to expose themselves to the risks.
Works Cited
Epstein, Helen. The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West, and the Fight against AIDS. New York:
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2007. Print.
