Cultural practices and disease transmission in Ebola and AIDS epidemics

Ebola outbreak and the AIDS epidemic

The Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone was deemed catastrophic, and there were widespread cases that resulted from people touching or following their customs in regards to caring for the sick. The cultural practices of the communities were the main reasons the disease was widespread within the country. Analyzing the Ebola outbreak documentary offers more insight on how people viewed the disease and their reactions to the doctors. In regards to the Haitian AIDS epidemic, it is clear that the sexual escapades and widespread prostitution was the main cause of the epidemic. Haitian's did not believe in using any form of protection during sexual intercourse, and the men would have multiple partners including other men. There was a belief that that disease was a hoax and a creation of the American government. Looking at the two cases one can establish the similarities and differences in the spread of the disease and the preparedness of the community in dealing with the diseases. The lack of information and ignorance are the greatest contributors to the widespread of the diseases (Dabbous, 2014). In the two countries, the people are poor, and they have bad eating habits. The lack of proper meals contributed towards the weakening of a person's immune system. Having a proper diet is encouraged for people diagnosed with AIDS and Ebola, but since the communities are poor, people do not get to eat as required.

Cultural practices

Some of the cultural practices that have contributed to the spread of Ebola in Sierra Leone include

When caring for the sick relatives most people do not protection, which leads to direct physical contact resulting in the transmission of the disease.

People are afraid of going to the isolation camps because most of the people who go there do not return (Dabbous, 2014). Hiding is not only done by the sick, but also by the family members who will prefer to take care of their own relatives, and this results in the disease spreading.

Within the community, there is a culture of touching and kissing corpses before burial.

In other instances, the water used to wash the corpse is also poured on the relatives as a method of anointing.

Believe the disease is a hoax and doctors are using it in order to steal people's blood.

The cultural practices that contributed to the spread of AIDS in Haiti include

Sex tourism, transactional sex, and commercial sex. Haiti has been well-known for its widespread commercial sex, and most people are not willing to use condoms.

Belief in voodoo as the cure for all diseases. Witchcraft has deep roots within the country, and most people would visit witch doctors to seek cures for AIDS.

The rights of passage dictate that a young man must perform anal sodomy to another man (Selzer, 1987). This belief has encouraged homosexuality, which leads to men having sexual intercourse with other men for fun.

The culture of homosexuality has been ritualized within Haiti because it is deemed as a way to appease the spirits.

Haitians believe in having multiple sexual partners.

The effects of ignorance

Looking at the case of Ebola, most of the people are not aware of the signs of Ebola. This might be the reason why they still touch and interact with the patient as if they have a normal disease. The failure to understand how the disease is spread and holding on to cultural beliefs has also played a big role in the spread of the disease. The health care workers were visiting the communities within the country and informing the people on the dangers of the disease, but still people did not do as told. People would ignore the advice offered, and they would still hide and touch the dead. From the video on the Ebola outbreak, most people were unwilling to visit the hospital for proper diagnosis (Dabbous, 2014). This failure could have contributed to the widespread of the disease. The outbreak could have been contained if people had taken the sick to hospital and isolation areas. In the case of Haiti, people did not believe that AIDS was real and the different symptoms they would suffer were deemed for normal diseases. The AIDS epidemic spread fast because people would have multiple partners, and they would not prefer to use condoms. They did not see the need for protection since there was no sexual disease. When a person would succumb to the disease, most people said, the person was not eating well. When Selzer (1987) was speaking to the prostitutes at Copacabana, it is evident that they believed people were dying or becoming frail because they were not eating well. The prostitutes took pride in themselves because they would eat well from their meager earnings.

Effects of stigma and discrimination in the spread of the disease

The people of Sierra Leone did not like the fact that most of them would not return if they went to the isolation wards (Dabbous, 2014). When they died, their bodies would not be returned to the community for burial because of proper disposal methods. This caused stigma and fear, which discouraged most people from visiting or admitting they had the disease. The protection gear that health workers used to wear when visiting the communities was feared and most of them would run away. Therefore, the health workers resulted to avoiding any physical contact and keeping a distance when interacting with the community members. The stigma associated with Ebola was too much for some people, and they would run away when they heard the health workers had visited their homesteads. The people would also hide their sick to avoid discrimination within the community. In Haiti, AIDS was not an accepted disease, which meant that people would not admit they had AIDS. The lack of knowledge on how the disease is spread lead to people avoiding interacting with AIDS patients, and they would be left in hospitals to die (Selzer, 1987). AIDS patients were discriminated upon even in the hospitals. The doctors had settled on the notion that they would die eventually, and there was nothing they could do to cure their disease.

Lack of resources and medical personnel

In the two countries, one can see that there were no enough medical personnel to handle the disease. Manjo, the healthcare worker in Sierra Leone, has indicated that most people are unwilling to assist in controlling the spread of the disease (Dabbous, 2014). The result is that the few who volunteer have to work long hours and travel long distances to reach the sick patients. Doctors were not aware of the disease initially, and once they discovered the disease, most of them would avoid treating or dealing with Ebola patients. There was a lack of enough resources in Sierra Leone to handle the growing number of Ebola patients, and most of the clinics were closed due to lack of facilitates and personnel. The government hospital in Haiti did not have trained personnel, and the patients were been treated by interns (Selzer, 1987). There was no enough medical facilities at the general hospital, and all the beds were occupied, which meant that new patients did not have space. The lack of medical personnel resulted in family members having to stay with their patients at the hospital. The interns are inexperienced, and they do not diagnose the disease properly. The lack of proper testing kits also contributes to the spread because a patient with aids could be diagnosed to not having it. The interns rely mostly on the infections a patient has to determine if they have AIDS.