The purpose of this thesis is to report on issues concerning the continuous spread of
HIV/AIDS in Mozambique in spite of the HIV/AIDS prevention interventions that are
in place. This research was conducted in Dondo and Maringue districts, both situated in
the Sofala Province. Sofala Province had higher prevalence that was 25 percent higher
than the national average of 16.2 percent. An ethnographic research methodology was
used in order to understand the reasons behind the continuous escalation of HIV/AIDS.
It was significant for one to get to know the people that live in Dondo and Maringue,
especially their daily lives, including their cultural practices as the driving force in
people’s behaviour and the manner in which people make sense of their daily lives. It
was important to understand their cultural practices, because of their relevance to the
issue of HIV/AIDS in terms of the manner in which cultural practices influence people
in decision-making about their social life, which escalate to the issue of health
practices. Although the concept of HIV/AIDS is acknowledged in Dondo and
Maringue, xirombo and phiringaniso were continuously used as local concepts in
health issues and practiced as indigenous knowledge together with kupitakufa,
kupitamabzwade, and kupitamoto rituals, and these practices were extended in dealing
with HIV/AIDS. The acceptance of the Western medical interpretation of HIV/AIDS
was low among the people in Dondo and Maringue. This reality is due to the
preservation of local cultural knowledge in dealing with diseases. As a result, local
medical concept and rituals becomes a challenge to the Western medical interpretation
of HIV/AIDS and its health prevention and intervention strategies. In the context of
Western medical interpretation of diseases the above local cultural practices are used as
'"
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resistance against the western medical interpretations HIV/AIDS concepts. These
cultural practices have preferences among local people in dealing with, and promoting
HIV/AIDS health prevention interventions when compared with the public biomedical
HIV/AIDS concept and the general biomedical practices. In conclusion this thesis
suggests that there is a need for integration of these cultural practices within the
Western medical interpretation, prevention and intervention strategies in dealing with
the HIV/AIDS pandemic and its concerns at a local level.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/10941 |
| Date | 10 January 2012 |
| Creators | Monteiro, Ana Piedade Armindo |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/octet-stream, application/octet-stream, application/pdf |
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