">Hiv And Aids | cultural Approaches To Hiv, Aids Important
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” /> HIV and AIDS is, indeed, a complex socio-economic, societal and cultural phenomenon, to be considered in the perspective of sustainable human development. Knowledge Cultural references
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This is why the prevention and treatment of the epidemic require a cultural approach to face the issue in all its aspects. In order to bring about changed in cultural references and behavioural norms likely to alleviate the task of risk reduction social scientists suggests that two prerequisites have to be met.
First, for ethical and practical reasons, in every action due attention should be paid to mentalities, traditions, beliefs and value systems, in order to overcome obstacles, which might arise in the process of HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment.
Secondly, the societal and cultural resources of the populations, including knowledge, knowhow, modes of economic and social organisation and their creativity, self-confidence and willingness to solve their problems, should always be mobilised in prevention and care activities.
Lack of knowledge is a major factor behind poor health. It results in people not seeking care when needed, despite the absence of price barriers, and it also results in people – especially poor people – wasting limited resources on inappropriate care.
Ignorance may also result in people not getting the maximum health gain out of inputs they have available to them and use. Many people do not know that hand washing confers much of the health benefit of piped water.
Not surprisingly, piped water has a much greater effect on the prevalence of diarrhea among the children of the better off and better educated.
Better-educated women – especially those with a secondary education – achieve better health outcomes for themselves and their children not by using health-specific knowledge that they acquire at school, but by using general numeracy and literacy skills learned at school to acquire health-specific knowledge later in life.
Although better-educated girls will mean healthier women and healthier children in future, a shorter and more direct route to increasing health-specific knowledge and skills is through information dissemination, health promotion and counselling in the health sector.
Several success stories exist. In some countries, after health workers have been trained by IMCI provided information and counselling at health facilities and in the community, health knowledge among mothers improved, as did feeding practices. The nutritional status of children in areas improved as well in less than two years.
As regards HIV and AIDS prevention and care, adopting a cultural approach means that populations’ cultural references and resources (ways of life, value systems, traditions and beliefs, and the fundamental rights of persons) will be considered as key references in building a framework for strategies, policies and project planning, but also as resources and basis for buil
