The Southern Africa Develpment Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) Committee on HIV/AIDS says the traditional and cultural practice of polygamy has been identified as a major contributing factor to the spread of HIV in the region.
SADC-PF Committee on HIV/AIDS Chairperson Thabitha Khumalo said there was need to harmonise such traditional and cultural practices as a way of preventing the further spread of the disease.
Ms Khumalo who is also a Member of Parliament in Zimbabwe said it was cardinal for harmonisation to be done considering that the practice was legal in some SADC member countries.
She said this in Livingstone today during a session held to discuss the SADC HIV/AIDS Capacity Development Programme at Zambezi Sun Hotel.
And Ms Khumalo said Zimbabwe managed to reduce its national HIV prevalence rate by 13 percent through various strategies such as voluntary male circumcision.
Meanwhile, Member of Parliament for Zombodze Emuva Constituency in Swaziland, Johannes Ndlangamandla said polygamy was legal in his Kingdom and people could not be expected to depart from their roots.
Mr. Ndlangamandla said he was aware of the dangers of multiple concurrent partnerships in light of the HIV/AIDS pandemic therefore men in his Kingdom were being encouraged to marry many legal wives instead.
He however, said men in polygamous marriages were vulnerable and at high risk of getting infected with HIV since faithfulness by their partners was not guaranteed.
ZANIS
This is a simple and well known fact but rather I find it very surprising that the whole of Southern Africa Develpment Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) Committee has known this “common fact” Surely the whole of SADC- PF? what do they really do? I though they should be ahead of things in the fight against HIV and AIDS in the region?
s is a simple and well known fact but rather I find it very surprising that the whole of Southern Africa Develpment Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) Committee has just known this “common fact” Surely the whole of SADC- PF? What do they really do? I though they should be ahead of things in the fight against HIV and AIDS in the region?
Mark my words; Only polygamy will set us free from AIDS, at the moment we may continue to pretend that its the other way round. Plz come on, we all know very well that during pregnancy many of us men find it hard to wait, so we seek other women services. Soon or later we will come back to polygamy. Its our tradition but one fool(mentally retarded) came and condemned it, trying to copy WHITE men who are 75% impotent. Guys we are Africans and not englishmen.
Hey SADC-PF ! Did you mean Zuma and Mswati, the kingpins? Why not just summon them and say it straight to their faces
#3, Interesting points. A lot of western countries are pushing African nations to embrace Homosexuality, esp through NGO’s, and yet studies have shown that HIV/AIDS is most prevalent amongst the gay society. 2nd point, one night stands are a cultural norm in western societies, all one has to do is turn on DSTV and watch Gossip girls, sex and the city, or desperate housewives to see how 3 somes or orgies are glamorized as their way of life. Lastly what is the HIV/AIDS rate in Arab countries esp. those which are predominantly Muslim, and have more than one wife on average, why is it so low compared to the HIV/AIDS rate in sub-Saharan Africa? Lets dig deeper people, why are we really dying of HIV/AIDS?
Johnny Depp – spot on. (*)(*)(*)(*)(*) (5 gold stars)
#5, Johnny Depp thanx for adding extra points)). Its really conforting to know that we still got people like you who can still wisely and intelligently analyse the whole AIDS issue and come up with brilliant ideas.
Especially the point u mentioned about the Arabs, us black people we want to emulate the whites; ofcourse its good to do so economically, technologically but not traditionally. AIDS became rampant in africa after monogamy became widespread. Johnny Depp i should say u’re a genius. 4 thumbs up^:)^
The day we will realise that poligamy will and mitigates the spread of AIDS thats the day infection rate will go down in our mother land.
#6, you feel Johnny Depp too!!)))). We are Africans and not whites.
# 5,6,7,8 hear is your answer
African-Americans Genetically Prone to HIV, AIDS
— By Jen Phillips
| Wed Jul. 16, 2008 10:53 AM PDTNew research shows that Africans and African-Americans bear a gene variant that helps protect them from malaria, but also makes them more vulnerable to HIV infection. The variant increases susceptability to HIV by 40 percent, says the San Francisco Chronicle.
The genetic trait is found in 90 percent of Africans and 60 percent of African-Americans. Thus far, it has protected against malaria by disabling a protein that some strains of malaria use to enter red blood cells. However, that same protein that’s disabled in Africans to prevent malaria can actually protect against HIV by soaking up virus cells before they can invade white blood cells. With this…
With this sponge-like protein disabled, Africans lose a key pre-infection barrier.
This finding helps explain, in part, the high HIV infection rates among Sub-Saharan Africans and Americans of African descent. On the flipside, there is a genetic variant among people of Northern European heritage that actually makes them immune to HIV infection. Scientists think the mutation was passed down by ancestors who survived the Black Plague. In one test, a man’s blood was exposed to 3,000 times the amount of HIV needed to infect a cell, but infection still didn’t occur. The HIV virus simply had no gateway of entry.
Both the European and African genetic traits are currently being studied to see if they can shed light on a cure to HIV.
Conspiracy Theory-From the aforesaid, here`s food for thought “could somebody have had prior knowledge of these genetic make up variations in the races” and engineered the virus so that it exterminates the blacks? I mean population control?
I have a naive belief in the goodness of man but mmm………… 😕 On a serious note isn’t the extermination of the black man a bit far fetched. Interesting to know the follow of that 2008 theory has any additional research gone into it?
Cultural beliefs will reduce african population if we do not accept the fact, Use Condoms always boys and girls
i disagree with the first three bloggers that thought of being a polygamist is selfish and coming from the males i understand but you should understand that its more traumatizing on the women side of things stick to one partner chapwa n condomise if you can no excuses of cant wait till the wife puts to bed that’s selfish because it is only beneficial to one gender of society
@14. If you as a woman cannot live in a polygamous marriage, speak for yourself. Don’t label honest men as being selfish, and again, your advice tat they should just pick hookers and condomise is off track. It is this respect for one night stands over respectable marriage that is spreading HIV. Men who want more wives are not forcing anyone.
# 12 You want more? you got it, plus if you`r really interested, you can further do your own digging
Africans May Be More Susceptible to HIV Because of Variant Gene
By the DiversityInc staff – Jul 17, 2008
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Keywords: AIDS, HIV, Africa, AIDS, Blacks, infection, vaccine, Black, African-American, gene
A genetic variation that protects people of African descent against a particular form of malaria may also be responsible for making them up to 40 percent more susceptible to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, according to a new study, reports The Wall St. Journal.
When exposed to the virus, “most Africans have a slight genetic bias to being more susceptible,” says Robin Weiss, a virologist at University College…
University College London, who co-wrote the study for a new scientific journal, Cell Host & Microbe. Africa has 25 million people with the virus, a much higher rate than other populations.
The researchers also found that the same ancient “genetic alteration” appears to prolong survival in those with the HIV virus by approximately two years, according to the Journal. “It helps in part to explain why HIV is so prevalent in Africa,” Weiss said.
Researchers are hopeful that understanding more about the genetic roots of HIV will assist in the creation of additional vaccine trials. According to the study, 90 percent of people in Africa and 60 percent of African Americans carry the variant gene. The scientists estimate that this variant gene may be responsible for some 11 percent…
responsible for some 11 percent of the HIV burden in Africa.
If there`s other work done which claims otherwise, pls, post it so we can educate ourselves.
As for the extermination part, nobody said it was a fact pls read carefully. it`s just a question posed to thought provock you