Cities and Networks of Viral Epidemics; Responses to HIV-1 in Congo Basin
Moderator: Didier Gondola (Indiana University)
Munayeno Muvova (Montreal, Canada)
“Sexually Transmitted Infections and Public Health in Colonial Congo: Public Power and Conditions for the Emergence of Disease in Cities”
This study’s main aim is to emphasize the importance of historical perspective in the socio-epidemiological approach to studying sexually transmitted infections (venereal disease) in the colonial context. This is a necessity in order to better understand, on the one hand, the context and conditions of such a disease and on the other hand, the mechanisms of action specific to the transmission of a disease directly related to sexual behavior. This approach is motivated by the current AIDS crisis and the lack of specific research dealing with the issue of STIs in the Congo during the colonial period. The approach of this study includes localizing this disease in history, rather than simply retelling the history of the disease, and studying the interaction between the political, economic, demographic, social and cultural factors and the disease itself. The first historical works that attempted to establish a link between venereal diseases and AIDS date back to as early as the 1990s when HIV/AIDS was dramatically increasing worldwide. Despite this interest, historical studies on STIs are very rare. Those that touch this issue are especially concerned with the demographic dimension, leaving in the shadows the socio-epidemiological conditions. The devastation that AIDS generates in the world and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, the close link that STIs have with HIV, and the strategies to fight AIDS, are all elements demonstrating the importance of historical reflection based on current concerns. This study tries to answer or review five key questions about health and disease within a population, and the current etymology in social epidemiology research. They are: what (the nature of the disease); why (main explanatory factors for the emergence of the disease), who (main transmitters); when (at what time has the disease been the most severe); and where (the most favorable place for the development of the disease). This perspective helps to understand the social changes wrought by colonization in changing sexual behavior of individuals and the expansion of these diseases in populations, as well as the mechanisms to fight against them.
