A study to determine why sexual cleansing is still practised in Namwala district in view of hiv/AIDS.
Résumé
The main objective of this study was to find out why people in
Namwala District still practice sexual cleansing in view of HIV/AIDS.
Information was gathered from 2 sources respectively: Literature on cultural practices that have a direct or indirect bearing on HIV/AIDS and from people with different expertise on HIV/AIDS and culture.
For' the purpose of this study a descriptive, qualitative and quantitative none experimental design was chosen to collect data from 50 respondents.
The study came up with the following findings:-
*That cleansing is practiced in most tribes within Namwala
District, it was however, observed from both statistical
findings and group discussion that the methods used were influenced by
tribal beliefs. With the majority of respondents being
Tongas, most of the respondents (64%) preferred
sexual cleansing.
*That the majority of the respondents knew the existence of
HIV/AIDS.
*That its major route of transmission is through sexual
intercourse and respondents were even knowledgeable of how to prevent it.