HIV/AIDS Treatment Meets Setbacks at Pentecostal Gatherings

By: Draxon Maloya

Recent survey reports have indicated commendable progress on the overall performance for people living with HIV/AIDS successfully undergoing diagnosis and treatment leading to viral load suppression, but setbacks still arise with continued reports of some religious leaders instructing patients who patronise their places of worship to stop taking medication claiming prophetic healings.

The clash of medical science and faith beliefs brings a huge setback considering a good number of faith leaders having taken a leading role in promoting the uptake of tools such as male circumcision, the use of condoms and PrEP at this crucial moment when the epidemic is facing threats from lack of financial sustainability and PEPFAR’s uncertain future in the United States of America.

The interference with medical treatment is potentially resulting in the resurgence of the virus in these patients, as they discontinue their prescribed treatment regimen based on the religious leaders’ directives.

A 24-year-old Morton Chavula (not real name) who receives treatment at Mapale Health Centre in the City of Mzuzu expressed regrets with the prophetic claims he got at one of the lunch hour Pentecostal intercedings, declared him HIV free after faithfully taking the medication leading to successful suppression of the viral load and the destruction of his medication.

“I was very strong to a point of believing that I have been healed, the prophet prayed for me at the Pentecostal prayer band in Mzuzu Central Business District where I used to patronise the lunch hour intercedings, I was told to throw away the Antiretroviral Therapy (ARV)s i was taking, but it did not take long before I became chronically ill up to this date,” Chavula lamented.

He was among a number of youths traced through a MedRXiv survey aimed at assessing community factors influencing ART defaulting amongst HIV positive youth enrolled in Mzimba District leading to morbidity and mortality following results of patients developing drug resistance and resurgence of opportunistic infections.

Nonetheless, there is a gap in identifying specific factors contributing to ART defaulting among the youth in the district though the study results indicate that lack of community social support, long distance to ART clinics and migration of the youth to other countries are statistically significant factors to treatment defaulting among the study participants in Mzimba District in Malawi.

Commenting on the accusation of some faith leaders telling their faithful to stop taking HIV/AIDS medication claiming to be cured after prayer, Prophetess Doris Chaponda of the Pentecost and Charismatic Network of Malawi (PECHATOMA) expressed concern with those going about telling those on Anti-Retro-Viral Therapy to abandon medication without certification of the medical personnel.

“Even those who were healed by Jesus Christ himself were told to show themselves to the priests, that has a deeper meaning even to the present generation where those healed are only certified by the medical personnel. We will continue engaging with church leaders on the matter so that we can achieve our desired goal in the fight against the epidemic,” said Chaponda.

Commenting on the development, the Public Relations Officer for Mzimba District Health Office, Lovemore Kabaghe said Antiretroviral therapy defaulting remains a major challenge for youth living with Human Immunodeficiency Syndrome globally and in Malawi with the average of 38 percent defaulting rate reported among the youth though the current statistics puts Malawi at 15.5 percent derailing government priority in default reduction towards achieving 95-95-95 targets.

“Evidence has shown that achieving viral suppression is of great concern due to the ART defaulting among youth, making the dream of achieving the last 95 percent a challenge for the district and the nation in general, failing to realise our goal in the set targets to reduce the mortality due to HIV related illnesses,” Kabaghe said.

On the challenges of funding for sustaining interventions aimed at raising awareness in churches and the community in general Kabaghe said the 2 percent extracted from the total health budget and other forms of resource mobilization plays a crucial role in sustain operations in the fight against the epidemic.

While acknowledging the clash between religious beliefs and medical science the National Aids Commission’s Public Relations Officer, Karen Msiska said to a larger extent the problem is causing harm to the individuals affected, highlighting the importance of collaboration between healthcare professionals and religious leaders in promoting the well-being of those living with HIV/AIDS.

“National AIDS Commission has been engaging such faith healers through PECHANOMA as well as the Prophetic Ministries Association of Malawi (PROMAM) and we have received positive feedback through such engagements, but we have still noted a few pockets that are stuck to the old ways,” said Msiska.

However, Msiska further stated that NAC will still keep engaging the faith community and will not be shy to unleash the HIV and AIDS Act on those making such healing claims, charging them with spreading false, inaccurate and misleading information on HIV if they are found guilty they will be fined K5 million and sentenced to five years in jail.