Our Families Are Silently Killing Us

        In Namibia, South Africa, there has been a significant rise of witchcraft accusations due to the fact that the Caprivi region has seen an increase in AIDS-related illnesses and deaths. This is because witchcraft has long been associated with misfortune across Sub-Saharan Africa. These misfortunes vary from small instances such as poor school grades, failure to marry, and unemployment to much harsher instances like car accidents, illness, and death. This is not a newly held belief though, in the 1963 a Namibia politician explained, "the notion is that all people should grow old and die from old age. If anything happens to them before then, then it is the result of machinations of evilly disposed persons". Although witchcraft isn't common and widespread, this still explains why the residents of Namibia have seen a rise in accusations.

"the notion is that all people should grow old and die from old age. If anything happens to them before then, then it is the result of machinations of evilly disposed persons"

        In the Namibian belief, illness caused by witchcraft manifests itself in a variety of forms that include both the symptoms and age groups of the people who are affected by the HIV/AIDS disease. Namibians also claim that illnesses caused by witchcraft are more difficult to cure than normal illnesses and bring the victim either a quick death such as heart attack or car accident or a long term illness, which makes witchcraft increasingly powerful. While many older and conservatively religious people believe that HIV/AIDS is self-inflicted through immoral behavior, illnesses caused by witchcraft are considered beyond a person's control and because of that, blame can be externalized. So, family members of those who had contracted the HIV/AIDS illness began to explain it off as witchcraft rather than admitting that it was a sexually transmitted illness to avoid being shamed and in order for the victim to continue receiving medical care. This became a popular coping mechanism for affected families in Africa. However, Adam Ashforth, an African studies professor at the University of Michigan argues that this could undermine the seriousness of the HIV/AIDS virus and in result cause more harm to the African community.

        Since the 1980's, HIV/AIDS has been the leading cause of death in Africa. It was only until 2017 that it was overtaken by respiratory tract infections as the leading cause of death. However, this isn't because the numbers of STI cases fell, it is simply because the quality of the air and other forces were now affecting more people. For years, cases of STI's in small regions like Namibia have been silenced due to the fact that they did not want people shaming the victims over how they contracted the disease. This resulted in many many years of ignorance of facts in Africa, while they could have been learning treatment and prevention methods against the illness. In result, more than 15 million Africans have died.

       In 2011, Africa began receiving information and treatment as well as wide spreading knowledge of different prevention methods against HIV/AIDS. By the end of 2011, more than 56% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa were receiving treatment for their illness. However, had the African people tackled the situation sooner, I would have to argue that many people would not have had to lose their lives.





REFERENCES: - https://qz.com/africa/1144158/hiv-aids-statistics-in-africa-nine-out-of-ten-adolescent-deaths-due-to-virus/
-https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/pressreleaseandstatementarchive/2012/july/20120706prafricatreatment
- https://www.africanews.com/2017/08/15/hivaids-is-no-more-the-leading-cause-of-death-in-africa//



Victor Ponce de Leon