The solution to the Aids crisis?

by Gunther Simmermacher · December 1, 2008

EDUCATION; For an Africa Without Aids, by Michael J Kelly. Paulines Publications Africa, Nairobi. 2008. 232pp

Reviewed by G�nther Simmermacher

Michael J Kelly, a Jesuit priest and professor of education based in Zambia, believes to have the solution to solving the Aids problem in sub-Saharan Africa. In his cogently reasoned book, the answer resides in education. What is missing is the collective will and the requisite allocation of resources to put into place a plan to stop the pandemic.

Fr Kelly argues persuasively why an emphasis must be placed on education and suggests what shape an education policy might take. The policy he proposes is aimed not only at prevention, but also incorporates such as issues as stigma, psychological healing, treatment and so on.

The author is acutely aware of obstacles to its implementation and the present dynamics in education which actually contribute to the spread of HIV-infections, especially among the most powerless in African society: girls.

Aids targets all of society and the whole world (even if that is not always apparent yet). The disease is about to explode in India and China, the world�s most populous nations. It is rampant in Russia. Even in the US, where the availability of antiretroviral drugs has produced a measure of complacency, infection rates are pointing upwards. Fr Kelly argues that just as HIV stealthily chips away at the individual�s health, so does Aids surreptitiously undermine a state�s internal security. And a nuclear power in internal turmoil is a danger to global peace.

Fr Kelly touches on the global context, but occupies himself mainly with the vulnerable young in sub-Saharan Africa. The statistics are, as one might expect, alarming. Of all people born in Botswana in 1985, 90% of females and 88% of males are likely to die of Aids-related causes. Half of all boys born in Zimbabwe in 1997 will die before they are 50. A frightening proportion of infections occur in children of school-going age. And 90% don�t know they are infected. Ignorance is rife. A study showed that many South African pupils believe that HIV cannot be transmitted through oral or anal sex, and so engage in these activities as forms of safe sex.

Fr Kelly is at pains to remind the reader that behind every case of infection there is a human drama. It is not only the infected individual who is affected, but also a whole family, even extended family and community. His special concern clearly is with children orphaned by Aids. He movingly describes their situation, often robbed of their childhood and a future. While other diseases also create orphans, those whose parents died of Aids-related causes must contend with the stigma attached to the disease above all the other problems of their situation. Child-headed households are becoming common in sub-Saharan Africa. How does the young head of such a household, sometimes barely pubescent, find the time and resources to still obtain an education? Far better to ensure that parents stay alive through the administration of antiretroviral medication.

Education: For an Africa Without Aids is an accumulation of papers delivered by Fr Kelly over several years. Best editing efforts notwithstanding, this means that some ideas and details are repeated, to maintain the integrity of individual chapters. But the narrative is not helped by running inconsistencies, such as in the range of peak ages for the incidence of full-blown Aids. These variations are slight, however, and do not injure the arguments presented.

And these arguments are critical, as foreword contributors Kenneth Kaunda and the always brilliantly trenchant Stephen Lewis attest. They are so critical that this is an important contribution to the body of literature on Aids in Africa.

Fr Kelly stakes out the challenge plainly: �Africa�s children are especially vulnerable both to the disease itself and to its impact. The epidemic attacks their inherent right to life and erodes the conditions needed for their survival, protection and development. The most critical challenge facing those who seek to assist Aids-affected children is to develop responses that, collectively, match the enormous scale of the crisis.

�What can be done crystallises into improved provision for health care and education, improved nutrition, enhanced community and family coping capacities, and interventions to promote the survival of mothers. What will be done rests with governments, civil society, local communities and the international community.�

All of these should read Fr Kelly�s book to arrive at an integrated, coherent and cohesive response to the greatest catastrophe humanity has yet faced.