"Anyone nit-picking enough to write a letter of correction to an editor doubtless deserves the error that provoked it." - Alvin Toffler

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Shocking racism and ethnocentrism:

A CULTURAL APPROACH TO HIV/AIDS PREVENTION AND CARE UNESCO/UNAIDS RESEARCH PROJECT
ANGOLA’S EXPERIENCE

"2.5 Traditional Practices which could eventually contribute to the AIDS spread

We list some other practices mentioned:

• Learning about sex with or without rites of initiation: the traditional way to learn about sex also contributes to the spread of the disease since the “adult teachers” (men and women) could be infected without knowing it.
• Scars: Special attention was paid to the practice of scar-tattooing that in certain ethno-linguistic groups is similar to beauty marking. According to the participants,
this practice could transmit the disease due to the use of infected cutting instruments;
• The practices of blood brotherhood in which two people exchange and drink each other’s blood as a symbol of mutual faithfulness. In general, it is a pact that two
individuals or representatives from two groups consummate through a rite in which they exchange blood. The pact creates a brotherhood and a sacred and sound
friendship that when betrayed demands punishment. In our country, kikongo young people change their blood during the rite of circumcision. Altuna (p. 122) highlights
that “after soaking a piece of manioc in the blood of their foreskins, they eat ‘the bread of the Brotherhood’”.
• The circumcision (individual or collective): when it occurs as part of rites of initiation involves a young population. If the blade is infected, everybody runs the risk of infection.
• When the umbilical cord is cut out: the midwife might use infected cutting objects. However, and according to a participant (a kikongo girl), the traditional way to do it does not involve the use of cutting objects. “They tie a not, then, stretch the cord from this not and it snaps straight away.”
• Polygamy: some participants think that polygamy, practised in the traditional way, protects the man and his wives from STDs and AIDS. Others disagree with it,
because man does not have a relation with all his women at the same time. He has “acquired” them a long the time and, in some cases, he becomes polygamous through the practice of a surrogate. The modern patterns of polygamy and, consequently, promiscuity, above all among couples that do not share the same
house, contribute to the transmission of STDs, particularly, AIDS.
• For many girls the first sexual contact is with their fathers: it is a practice observed in few groups, but which could facilitate the transmission of AIDS.
• Traditional marriage within the same tribe: it is a way to protect the group.
• Traditional healing when cutting or sharp objects are used.
• The practice of surrogate and similar ones."