My Turn

Linking the Fisi practice with HIV detracts attention from real issue

Biomedical research on HIV shows the virus is not easily spread and transmission is much lower than is generally perceived by those living through the AIDS epidemic. From a single act of unprotected heterosexual sex, there is 1 in 1000 chance of spreading the virus. Even if one partner is infected the probability of infection is still low, 8 in 1000.

Although Fisi has several meanings, this article refers to the Fisi practice taking place during initiation where, according to the Malawian Human Rights Commission, the Fisi is an unidentifiable male who comes to each girl during the night and has sex, often without protection. While a fisimay be more likely to be HIV positive than the average male, it is the case that intercourse with the fisi is usually a single act of intercourse and is far from an everyday occurrence: since intercourse within marriage is much more frequent and the use of condoms is infrequent, regular marital relations are more likely to lead to infection than intercourse with a fisi. There is no empirical research on the male fisi’s sexual behaviour and no evidence that this practice has a higher transmission rate than other practices common in Malawi.

As well as the epidemiological evidence to show the fisi is of low risk, there is a lack of evidence to suggest the practice is widespread to the extent that it would significantly increase HIV rates in Malawi, as the practice is evidenced in a small number of rural communities, namely Mangochi and Nsanje.

The study

Sixty in-depth interviews were conducted in 2008-2009 in Malawi with those working in HIV prevention including lawyers, researchers, policy makers, government ministers, NGO staff at the international and national level as well as district officials and health workers in Balaka, Blantyre and Lilongwe to find out people’s views on the practice and how stories linking AIDS to the fisi practice came about.

Why is there then so much focus on something that in numerical terms at best has a minor effect in the increase of AIDS at a national level? This articleis not defending the fisi practice as the practice is troublesome in terms of gender, sexuality and control.  However the fisipractice is being used as a scapegoat for three main reasons.

Attract donor funding

First, it attracts donor funding.National elites in Malawi are blaming thefisi practice for the spread of AIDS to ensure that HIV is kept on the development policy agenda within the institutions in which they work thus attracting donor funding and retaining elites’ professional status. Elites are middle-class people in government positions or working in international NGOs or bi and multilateral agencies.

Secondly, because the fisi practice is reported to take place in rural areas, elites project AIDS as a rural disease spread by mainly illiterate, rural people who do not speak English. This distances educated, urban elites from the disease as well as detracting attention from urban male and female promiscuity.Elites maintain their positions through playing into the concepts of modernity held by the donors that relies upon a binary that divides the modern from the un-modern. Thus, Malawian elites are making themselves look like the modern, unproblematic group that donors should engage with.

The third reason is, Malawian elites base their category of uncivilised by accusing those practising African Traditional Religion (ATR) as backwards. Thus by having converted to Christianity and by perpetuating a narrative that asserts their superiority by placing the blame for transmission on those who practice African Traditional Religion, elites establish themselves as modern and progressive in comparison. Within this context, Christian leaders play a role in projecting the story as an ideological tool to promote a Christian lifestyle against traditional forms of African religion. In summary these stories have been massively amplified because it reflects the agenda of key elites in Malawi as opposed to reflecting a proportionate threat to the spread of HIV/AIDS. This deflects attention from high-risk sexual practices such as promiscuity in urban areas amongst urban and affluent Malawians.

Impact on women’s lives

The underside of this is what gets lost, which is a critical understanding of how traditional cultural practices impact negatively on women’s lives. Whilst the fisi practice is not responsible for the spread of HIV in Malawi, the practice does feed into a gender ideology that renders women vulnerable to abuse and oppression. This real impact becomes distorted by the AIDS narrative, and the troublesome and harmful impact becomes either obscured or rendered invisible. For example, the way in which the fisi practice acts to oppress and marginalize women is not heard.

What next?

What needs to be made more visible is the reality of HIV/AIDS in Malawi and to focus on the structural underpinnings that render women vulnerable to it.The emphasis of AIDS policies should therefore in fact be attributed more to contemporary patriarchal constructions of gender and power than a one-off highly un-evidenced traditional sexual practice. Donors and policy makers need to use rigorous, scientific evidence to support policy decisions so that development programmes are effective.

Further, stakeholders need to better articulate the link between traditional cultural practices, gender-based violence and women’s health as the practice of sexual cultural acts can lead to women’s susceptibility to violence. Donors need to apply a more theoretical perspective to project planning and implementation that mainstreams gender as the key lens through which gender-based violence and HIV and AIDS should be viewed. For HIV prevention purposes it would be far more useful to focus on frequent practices, such as transmission within marriages or stable couples— Samantha Page spent 14 months in Malawi researching for her PhD entitled “Narratives of Blame” HIV/AIDS and Harmful Cultural Practices in Malawi: Implications for Policies and Programme.

 

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2 Comments

  1. Very true. Reminds me of stories of HIV positive men raping babies in order to “cleanse” themselves of the virus. Very deplorable, yes. But it can’t possibly be a factor in the spreading of HIV worth writing home about. These are simply sensentional stories that bring in the big bucks for AIDS researchers with little chance of bringing about useful lifestyle changes in the impacted communities.

  2. Point of correction, Christianity in Malawi does not belong to elite people only. Travel to the typical villages in Malawi and you will see how people are serious with their christian faith, it’s more than those elite you’re talking about . Again most Christians do not condemn cultural practices as a cause of HIV/AIDs, but they teach that sex outside marriage is bad, and I guess that is the point you are trying to make that people should only have sex with those they are married to.

    Despite the belief of spreading HIV/AIDS, I still condemn the idea of fisi. Why shouldn’t a girl choose a boy of her choice to have sex with? We are living in the age where everyone should be treated equally. Girls are not objects to be just used for sex. they should make their own choices on which boy to sleep with.

    Lastly, it’s still true that unprotected sex can help spread HIV/AIDS. Whether there is a high or a low chance

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