Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - June 18, 2006
Futhi Ntshingila
A group of healthcare providers in KwaZulu-Natal has come up with a novel way of teaching illiterate HIV-positive patients about Aids, describing CD4 cells as Zulu warriors and antiretroviral drugs as traditional weapons.
BroadReach Healthcare has coined these and other Zulu expressions to describe the changes in the body after HIV infection, from testing positive to the collapse of the immune system and how anti-HIV medicines work.
The group says it chose the method to reach out to rural communities and to overcome low levels of literacy.
This week BroadReach Healthcare educational consultant Prathima Naidoo told delegates at the third annual US President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief meeting in Durban that the picture-based communication tool had enabled a rapid roll-out of the antiretroviral programme to patients with varying levels of literacy.
"I think the beauty of it is that they get involved and they use what they know to help understand what is happening to them," said Naidoo. "Knowledge is a powerful thing."
Naidoo said BroadReach devised the method after realising that language differences and low education levels posed a serious threat to teaching patients about adhering to therapy.
She said 10 communities had used the Zulu phrases to help many illiterate patients understand what was happening in their bodies and how to take charge.
"Our training relies on constant interaction with the patients as they craft an evolving story during a three-day workshop," said Naidoo.
HIV-positive Thando Ndlanzi, 31, of Klaarwater, Durban, compared the method to being in a war that she knows she is winning.
She said she almost gave in after her weight plummeted to 45kg, leaving her skeletal.
Now every morning and night Ndlanzi fortifies her warriors with a dosage of antiretrovirals. She now weighs 82kg.
"Most of the terms connected to HIV are in English but now with warriors it makes sense," she said.
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