Psychological impact of AIDS
AIDS is a syndrome with frightening social and cultural meaning. It has long-term comprehensive effects on personal relationships, social institutions and cultural processes. Its effects extend to shape the way individual and collective lives are organised.
Social norms and values have also affected the perception of AIDS, and the efforts to control or treat the disease. AIDS is also in the process of reshaping many aspects of the society, its institutions, norms and values, interpersonal relations and cultural process.
Lifestyles are at the heart of the debate on AIDS, concerning transmission and prevention, and this poses major challenges to societies. The emphasis is on surveillance and containment of the virus. It is argued that the only effective way of prevention is a drastic restructuring of attitudes towards intimate social relations.
AIDS presents medical and human challenges.
There are difficulties related to sorting out and understanding personal, group, community and professional responses to issues raised by a condition that is stigmatised and caused by a sexually transmitted disease.
Psychosocial issues that impact on AIDS patients and their social groups, include fear of the unknown and the tendency to depersonalise the infected; fear of contagion and death; denial of helplessness and hopelessness; anger and over-identification.
Most families and many individuals are unwilling to share the diagnosis with friends and relatives due to a sense of guilt and shame associated with the behaviour that led to HIV infection.
They fear community disapproval, which may lead to stigmatisation, isolations and withdrawal of services to the infected and the entire family.
The loss of social support leads to isolation, which induces depression and difficulties in dealing with family issues and tasks. Septimus (1990) indicates that socio-economic problems in the families further contribute to depression. AIDS introduces a new and overwhelming set of conditions. Without income, employment and medical support at times, there are very few, if any resources, to break the vicious cycle that drains psychological and physical resources and extends vulnerability.
Socio-cultural factors and societal response to AIDS seem to aggravate the distressing reactions of guilt, self-blame and lowered self-esteem, which may usually result from unresolved conflicts about sexual orientation and be reinforced by societies that blame people’s infidelity for the disease. Thus, infected persons and their relatives, friends, etc, experience a feeling of contamination in relationships to sexuality and physical-affectional closeness. This is compounded by the sexual transmissibility of the disease.
According to the ministry of health January 2023 report, there is a total of 215 348 Namibians living with HIV, and estimated 7 193 children under the age of 15 with HIV.
Many of those at risk are employed, thus nations risk losing high numbers of their active workforce. In addition, there is always the threat of increased absenteeism because of ill health, caring for sick relatives and attending funerals. Some industries, such as insurance, will be affected more negatively than others. Others, such as rubber production, condom manufacturing and the pharmaceutical industry, stand to benefit a great deal.
At the personal level, an individual has to confront a range of new and inevitable painful decisions or choices. These will differ, depending on the condition of the individual, for example, whether he/she has AIDS, tested positive or whether he/ she is free of infection. Those in settled monogamy may think they are secure and have nothing to fear.
However, where sexual relationships are concerned, no one can be absolutely sure of another person’s fidelity. In the advent of AIDS, secret unfaithfulness carries a lither potentiality.
The major challenge of AIDS has to do with overcoming fears. Fear and ignorance lead to problems in caring for AIDS patents in institutions and at home in the community. AIDS education programmes in the community must assure people they cannot contract AIDS by hugging and kissing, or in sharing the same roof or meals. There is need to provide an enabling environment in which people infected may have normal experience.
Namibia received an award of recognition for remarkable progress towards reaching the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS 95-95-95 targets and efforts towards ending AIDS.
We are eager to see and hope that the new National Strategic Framework for HIV/AIDS will in the long run bear its fruit, as well as accelerating and totally transforming our health system at all levels. *Reverend Jan A Scholtz is the former chairperson of //Kharas Regional Council and former !Nami#nus councillor and is a holder of Diploma in Theology, B-Theo (SA), a Diploma in Youth Work and Development from the University of Zambia (UNZA), Diploma in Education III (KOK) BA (HED) from UNISA.