Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - October 28, 2005
Tapiwa Gomo, Lilongwe
The next day, all roads lead to the head chief's home. Young, old, women and men all converge to listen to a message from the chiefs who gather at nine o'clock in the morning.
The day starts with singing and dancing. But when Chief Mduwa, the head chief in the area, begins, there is silence. "We want to reinforce the work we have already started on HIV and AIDS in our communities," announces Chief Mduwa.
This is greeted by ululation and whistling from the crowd. Banners and placards with HIV and AIDS messages float above the people.
What follows is a strong statement on the chiefs' commitment to fight stigma and discrimination. Then the chiefs ask community volunteers for feedback on how their work with people living with HIV and AIDS is going.
Support from community leaders is crucial to reduce stigma and discrimination, says Joyce Banda, who is one of an estimated two million people living with HIV or AIDS in Malawi. UNAIDS estimates that one in seven people in Malawi has HIV or AIDS, and life expectancy has plummeted to 39.6 years.
"When I went for an HIV test, it was difficult for me to share my status with anyone, including relatives. But after the chiefs got involved together with the Red Cross support groups and carers, our lives changed," says Joyce, a member of the Tisasalane Red Cross support group for positive people in Mchinji.
"We are no longer ashamed of our status and everyone accepts us as we are," she says.
Chief Mduwa says chiefs started spreading anti-stigma messages in 2001 after they realised that Malawi Red Cross volunteers were facing problems reaching people in the chiefs' communities. Community leaders in Mchinji saw that sick people were shunned.
Child-headed households didn't get any help from their neighbours. Some people could not work the land to support themselves and their families. Because people were afraid to come forward, they could not get help from the Malawi Red Cross, which runs an extensive home-based care programme.
"As chiefs we realized that we had a strong role to play to help the situation in our area. The people being served by the Red Cross are our people and we had to do something," says Chief Mduwa.
"We chiefs have overall powers over our areas and we realized we should use our authority to protect people living with HIV and AIDS. We wanted to make our communities understand that HIV and AIDS is everyone's challenge," he adds.
Now the chiefs meet every month with Red Cross volunteers who do home-based care for people living with HIV and AIDS, and others with chronic illnesses. Through this mechanism, the chiefs find out what the situation is for people in their communities.
"We have made it a policy that whoever discriminates against people living with HIV and AIDS shall be heavily fined or expelled from our kraals (villages)," stresses Chief Mduwa.
And because the chiefs are well coordinated, there is pressure on communities to accept people living with HIV and AIDS.
As a result of the thaw in attitudes, many people living with HIV and AIDS have come out to join support groups. Now some sick people are being looked after by their neighbours. Chiefs make sure orphans, child-headed families and the elderly have food, labour to till the land, and moral support. In Mchinji, the chiefs go as far as providing land for communal gardens where people grow cash crops to support the most vulnerable.
Joyce Banda says community support gives people living with HIV and AIDS the confidence to reach out to others.
"It is important to know that community leaders share our concerns and are prepared to unite with us as one family.
This has given us the strength to even go and assist other people living with HIV and AIDS in our community," she says.
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