Widow inheritance and HIV/AIDS in rural Uganda

Submit to survive: an exploration of sexual cleansing as an act of violence against widows in the Luo community of Kenya

In this paper, the sexual 'cleansing' of widows and subsequent inheritance is assessed for its socio-cultural significance. Although the practice has been well studied in the context of HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa, it has not been widely examined as an act of sexual violence against women. To address this gap, in-depth interviews were conducted with 27 widows aged 29 to 90 years in Siaya County in Southwest Kenya. A majority of participants stated the cleansing ritual was forcefully initiated, violently fulfilled, and frequently seen as rape. Findings from this study necessitate the identification of the cultural practice of widow cleansing as an act of violence against women. Doing so will facilitate the creation of a legal framework with which to act to eliminate the practice.

“I was forced into it”: The continued violation of widows from the Luo community of Kenya through sexual cleansing rituals

Sexual cleansing is part of the social transition process for widows to become eligible to remarry after the death of her husband. This ritual is conducted to cleanse the widow of evil spirits resulting from the death of her husband. This qualitative study explored the sexual cleansing ritual in the Luo community in southwest Kenya. This paper aims to examine the widows' perceptions of the social constructs surrounding the practice of the sexual cleansing ritual that maintains its continued existence in this community. Twenty-seven face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted with widows who had undergone sexually cleansing. Data was analyzed using conventional content analysis. Three main themes emerged in the exploration of the social construction of the sexual cleansing ritual of widows. The findings therein highlight the precarious situation of widows and the need for social support services for women who have been sexually cleansed.

Persistence of traditional and emergence of new structural drivers and factors for the HIV epidemic in rural Uganda; A qualitative study

BACKGROUND

In Uganda, the HIV epidemic is now mature and generalized. Recently, there have been reports of resurgence in the incidence of HIV after several years of successful control. The causes for this resurgence are not clear but suspected to be driven by structural factors that influence large groups of people rather than individuals. The aim of this study was to describe the structural drivers of the HIV epidemic in high prevalence regions and inform the next generation of interventions.

METHODOLOGY

We conducted a total of 35 focus group discussions in 11 districts in Uganda. Due to their high HIV prevalence, the districts had been selected to implement a donor supported program to scale up HIV prevention, care and treatment. Focus groups consisted of men and women including opinion leaders, civil servants including teachers, police officers, religious, political leaders, shop keepers, local residents and other ordinary persons from all walks of life. The qualitative data were transcribed and analyzed manually. Texts were coded using a coding scheme which was prepared ahead of time but emerging themes and codes were also allowed.

RESULTS

Our data indicated there is persistence of several structural drivers and factors for HIV in rural Uganda. The structural drivers of HIV were divided into three categories: Gender issues, socio-cultural, and economic drivers. The specific drivers included several gender issues, stigma surrounding illness, traditional medical practices, urbanization, alcohol and substance abuse and poverty. New drivers arising from urbanization, easy access to mobile phone, internet and technological advancement have emerged. These drivers are intertwined within an existing culture, lifestyle and the mixture is influenced by modernization.

CONCLUSION

The traditional structural drivers of HIV have persisted since the emergence of the HIV epidemic in Uganda and new ones have emerged. All these drivers may require combined structural interventions that are culturally and locally adapted in order to tackle the resurgence in incidence of HIV in Uganda.

Barriers and facilitators to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) eligibility screening and ongoing HIV testing among target populations in Bondo and Rarieda, Kenya: results of a consultation with community stakeholders

BACKGROUND

As pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) moves closer to availability in developing countries, practical considerations for implementation become important. We conducted a consultation with district-level community stakeholders experienced in HIV-prevention interventions with at-risk populations in Bondo and Rarieda, Kenya to generate locally grounded approaches to the future rollout of oral PrEP to four populations: fishermen, widows, female sex workers, and serodiscordant couples.

METHODS

The 20 consultation participants represented the Ministry of Health, faith- and community-based organizations, health facilities, community groups, and nongovernmental organizations. Participants divided into breakout groups and followed a structured discussion guide asking them to identify barriers to implementing HIV-prevention interventions (including PrEP) with each population. Questions also solicited solutions for addressing these barriers, as well as other facilitators for PrEP implementation. In particular, questions focused on how to encourage people to screen for PrEP eligibility by having HIV and other blood tests and how to encourage compliance with ongoing HIV testing.

RESULTS

The barriers and facilitators/solutions discussants provided were frequently population-specific, but there were also broad-level similarities across populations. Service delivery barriers to HIV-prevention interventions concerned the need for staff trained to address the needs of particular populations. Service delivery facilitators to provision of ongoing HIV testing consisted of offering testing options besides facility-based testing. Stigma was the main community-level barrier for all groups, whereas barriers at the level of target populations included mobility; lifestyle and life circumstances, especially cultural norms among fishermen and widows; and fears, lack of awareness, and misinformation. Proposed facilitators and strategies for addressing community- and population-level barriers included topic-specific education within the populations and community, involvement of partners and family members, mass HIV testing, and peer educators. Barriers to PrEP uptake included non-adherence to pill taking and missing clinic visits. For drug adherence, facilitators were counselling and involving family members. Discussants suggested that client reminders, e.g., home visits, were needed to encourage clients to keep their clinic appointments.

CONCLUSIONS

Strategies for encouraging eligibility screening and ongoing HIV testing will have local and population-specific aspects. Our results nonetheless apply to similar populations throughout sub-Saharan Africa and reach beyond oral PrEP to other ARV-based PrEP formulations.

Understanding culture and HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa

Early in the study of HIV/AIDS, culture was invoked to explain differences in the disease patterns between sub-Saharan Africa and Western countries. Unfortunately, in an attempt to explain the statistics, many of the presumed risk factors were impugned in the absence of evidence. Many cultural practices were stripped of their meanings, societal context and historical positioning and transformed into cofactors of disease. Other supposedly beneficial cultural traits were used to explain the absence of disease in certain populations, implicitly blaming victims in other groups. Despite years of study, assumptions about culture as a cofactor in the spread of HIV/AIDS have persisted, despite a lack of empirical evidence. In recent years, more and more ideas about cultural causality have been called into question, and often disproved by studies. Thus, in light of new evidence, a review of purported cultural causes of disease, enhanced by an understanding of the differences between individual and population risks, is both warranted and long overdue. The preponderance of evidence suggests that culture as a singular determinant in the African epidemic of HIV/AIDS falls flat when disabused of its biased and ethnocentric assumptions.

Widow inheritance and HIV prevalence in Bondo District, Kenya: baseline results from a prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND

Widow Inheritance is a widespread cultural practice in sub-Saharan Africa that has been postulated as contributing to risk of HIV transmission. We present baseline results from a study designed to investigate the association between widow inheritance and HIV acquisition.

METHODS AND FINDINGS

We performed a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from a prospective cohort study to investigate if widow inheritance is a risk practice for HIV infection. Study participants were 1,987 widows who were interviewed regarding their inheritance status and sexual behavior profile and tested for HIV. Of these widows, 56.3% were inherited. HIV prevalence, at 63%, was similar among non-inherited and inherited widows. We stratified exposure status by the relationship of the widow to the inheritor and the reason for inheritance, and reexamined the HIV status of four subgroups of inherited women relative to the HIV status of non-inherited women. When adjusting for age and level of formal education, widows who were inherited by non-relatives for sexual ritual were significantly more likely to be infected than widows who were not inherited (OR = 2.07; 95%CI 1.49-2.86); widows who were inherited by relatives for sexual ritual also had elevated odds of HIV infection (OR = 1.34; 95%CI = 1.07-1.70). Widows who were inherited by relatives for companionship were less likely than women who were not inherited to be infected with HIV (OR = 0.85; 95%CI 0.63-1.14).

CONCLUSIONS

HIV prevalence among inherited widows varied depending upon why and by whom they were inherited. The cohort study will determine the risk for HIV acquisition among the HIV seronegative widows in this sample.