Effects+of+AIDS+-+physical,+emotional,+cultural

=Cultural Aspects of AIDS in Africa=

**Religion**
Africa has very diverse religions, ranging from Christianity to Islam to Hinduism indigenous religions. I am only going to write about Islam, Roman Catholicism and indigenous religions because they are the major religions in Africa. I will try to show how some of these religions think about AIDS.

Roman Catholicism:
Roman Catholicism is a major religion especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. In countries such as Namibia, Angola and the Republic of Congo 75% or more of the people is Roman Catholic. This point is illustrated by the map below. Roman Catholicism is an example of a religion that takes a stance against some of the aspects of the prevention of AIDS. People who are Roman Catholic are not allowed to use birth control items such as special pills or condoms. I found a quote that explains this: "The church's position is that by taking the fertility out of the sexuality, contraception //(birth control)// eliminates the basis of the marital relationship //(marriage)//," said Donald Asci, an associate professor at Austria's International Theological Institute. "And without the basis for the relationship it devolves into something else, perhaps a mutual use or a sort of utilitarian //(useful)// approach, but not the kind of love God designed for the man and the woman to have." Of course this has a huge effect of the spread of HIV/AIDS because using a condom is one of the best ways of preventing HIV/AIDS. A piece of evidence that supports this is also that the rates of people infected with HIV/AIDS is much higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than in Northern Africa which is mostly Muslim.

Islam:
Islam in a major religion in Northern Africa. The map below clearly shows the Muslim population in different parts of Africa. It also shows that in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is mostly Roman Catholic, there are not many Muslims. Likewise in Northern Africa there are almost no Roman Catholic people. Muslims do not have problems with birth control the way that Roman Catholics do; Muslims have no texts from the Qu'ran or sayings [of Mohammed] that prohibit birth control items. However, the Qu'ran only permits sex between a married couple. Muslims face a smaller risk of AIDS because they have no problems with aspects of the prevention of AIDS. Muslims believe that they should learn about AIDS and HIV to stop the spread, and discrimination that people with HIV/AIDS face.

Indigenous religions:
Indigenous religions also make up a big part of the religions practiced in Africa. The map below shows in which countries in Africa indigenous religions are practiced. Obvious is also that indigenous religions are practiced all throughout Africa whereas Roman Catholicism and Islam were more 'confined' to a certain part [or certain parts] of Africa. Many people who practice indigenous religions have AIDS, simply because they do not learn as much about AIDS as Christians or Muslims. They often have strong religious beliefs about the cause of AIDS. Sometimes this influences their practices to stop the spread of AIDS. This can be dangerous and have a big impact on the spread of AIDS. What makes it worse is that all over Africa indigenous religions are practiced.

Below is a map of the world and shows how many people are currently living with HIV/AIDS in certain areas of the world: In Africa and especially in Sub-Saharan Africa these numbers are huge. In Northern Africa and in the Middle East AIDS seems like much less of a problem. I have explained why this is previously. The parts of Africa that are inhabited by people with indigenous religions also have high numbers of people with AIDS. This is caused mostly by the fact that they do not learn as much about HIV/AIDS. Information found at: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/22678.php [| www.dictionary.com] (for explanations of some vocab) http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/04/e2fc418b-846e-4f8e-a084-c797733c206f.html http://www.positivemuslims.org.za/hivaidsis.htm
 * Bibliography:**

Images found at: http://www.religionstatistics.net/africa2.gif http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/images/africa_religions.jpg http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/images/sr140_map_africa_muslim_population_2005_sm.gif http://www.presbyterian.ca/pwsd/aworldwithoutaids/images/map.gif