An Assessment of the Communication Strategies Used By Faith Based Organizations on the Use of Anti Retro Viral Treatment (ART): The Case of Ethiopian Orthodox Church
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Date
2010-08
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
For the last two and half decades HIV/AIDS has been causing a great damage to human life.
HIV remains a global health problem of unprecedented dimensions. Ethiopia is one of the sub
Saharan country affected by the epidemic. For instance, in 2005 there were 1,320,000 persons
living with HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia. There were 353 new infections and 338 deaths per day at the
national level.
However these days with the discovery of ART drugs, mortality rate decreased. Even though
mortality rate decreased, there were problems created after the invention of the drug. Since
taking the drug needs >95% adherence which means not missing more than one dose per
month to avoid the emergence of drug resistant HIV strains. Otherwise the virus will replicates
and mutates (changes its character, including its ability to resist drugs) at a very high rate. Nonadherence
by patients on ART has serious consequence both on the individual as well as the
society.
According to different studies conducted through out the country, starting spiritual treatment
like tsebel is one of the reasons for non adherence by patients. The belief that goes saying modern
medicine could not be taken with spiritual treatment (tsebel) by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
has been creating a problem for the past few years. However, the church has changed its stand
and started to educate the clergy about this issue.
The study uses qualitative method which includes in-depth interview and focus group
discussion. The data is collected from two holy water site: Entoto Mariam church and Urael
church. The data is collected from four target groups which include: - Religious leaders, People
Living With HIV (Who are taking ART with tsebel and who stopped taking ART after they
started tsebel), Community leaders and Actors (Organizations who are working on HIV and
related issues).
Eventually, the findings of the study show that there is awareness about ART and adherence
among religious leaders, PLWHA and community leaders. The training given by EOC helped to
create awareness and to make dialogue among religious leaders. As a result, there is found to be a
behavioral change among religious leaders. They started advising PLWHA not to stop their ART
drug when they start tsebel. The communication between religious leaders and PLWHA is
limited to interpersonal communication (counseling) because religious leaders are not
comfortable to talk about the compatibility of ART and tsebel in public. Even those religious
leaders, who are giving education in public, do it rarely. The absence of a written policy by the
church, scarcity of mass communication, and community resistance are some of the problems
that are revealed by this study. To solve these problems, availability of policy, sensitization of the
congregants at public places and churches regularly, interpersonal communication with
PLWHA and the use of Mass Media in the form of TV spots and radio dialogues are
recommended.
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Ethiopian Orthodox Church