The Road to Wellness: Human-scale Developments for Boosting “Community Immunity” to HIV/AIDS

Abstract

Frogs are considered by environmentalists to be an important bio-indicator of the health of the environment. Being amphibians, living on land and in water, they are susceptible to toxicity and pollution in both. The disappearance of frogs in ecosystems is an early warning indicator of environmental stress, pollution and disturbance. This is because frogs (in contrast to dolphins, for example) are cold-blooded animals, and do not notice gradual and subtle environmental changes until it is too late to take life-saving action. However, a sudden change, such as when the Nile “ran with blood” in the time of Moses and Pharaoh, will cause them to mass migrate with scant respect for Pharaoh’s palaces, bed, or enslavement policies (Exodus, Ch. 7: 14–29). Peter Senge (1990: 22) claims,

If you place a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will immediately try to scramble out. But if you place the frog in room temperature water, and don’t scare him, he’ll stay put… As the temperature gradually increases, the frog will become groggier and groggier, until he is unable to climb out of the pot… the frog will sit there and boil. Why? Because the frog’s internal apparatus for sensing threats to survival is geared to sudden changes in his environment, not to slow, gradual changes

This chapter was written while I was contracted by the World Health Organization, within the Health Action in Crisis unit, which was seeking with other United Nations agencies and international NGOs to develop appropriate humanitarian responses to the “triple threat” facing Southern African countries of HIV/AIDS, food insecurity, and weakening governance capacity. While this chapter does not necessarily represent the views of the World Health Organization or the United Nations Regional Interagency Coordination Support Office, I am indebted to the many dedicated UN and WHO colleagues whose comments and insights made me think more deeply. In random order, Welile Shasha, Tamara Sutila, Nathaniel Tembo, Greer van Zyl, Youcef Chellouche, Andre Griekspoor, David Nabarro, William Aldis, Angelita Mills, Ken Ofuso Barko, Helen Jackson, Dan Odallo, Siphiwe Shongwe. Celine Mazars, Anne Gituku-Shongwe, Christine Mitchell, Marcella Villareal, Josee Koch and Chris Kaye.

Special thanks to Judy Cooke, Ethel Dyabuza (FAMSA Western Cape), Theresa Lorenzo (senior lecturer in the Occupational Therapy division of the School of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town) and Heather Wannacott (graduate student in occupational therapy at UCT) for contributing invaluable illustrative experiences and material. If readers are not persuaded by their empirical experience, I apologise in advance for not adequately conveying their story. In addition, the following friends and colleagues contributed comments, ideas and suggestions along the way. In random order, Angela Espinosa, Crispin Kai Kai, Jonathan Rands, Sandy Heather, Scott Drimie, Erica Nelson, John van Breda, Madeleine Duncan, Sharon White, Lana van Niekerk, Paul Harvey, William Elliot and Alan Whiteside.