What AIDS Does to Widows By Toye Olori The tragedy of AIDS is so much the greater when it hits someone as vulnerable as a widow. On World AIDS Day December 1, women argue for tougher laws against traditions that make AIDS worse .

AS THE Aids pandemic reaches its second and killing wave across the continent, the number of widows is steadily increasing, making this core of women more vulnerable and in more desperate need of protection than ever before.

Traditional widowhood practices can also spread HIV infection with certain types of sexual cleansing and attendant early marriage for young children. This second Aids wave is giving new impetus to the push for the reform of harmful traditional practice, the Commonwealth Peoples Forum heard on World Aids day yesterday.

Activists at the forum want the Nigerian government to set the pace by following the lead of Enugu State which has legislated against harmful widowhood practices. The ban on these practices should be extended across the country through a law in the National Assembly, they said.

Participants at the Forum also want widows to be given employment in government establishments or be trained to discourage their going into prostitution for survival. They want banks to give special incentives to couples who operate joint accounts so that widows are not left destitute.

Enugu state is the only state in Nigeria which has legislated against all forms of harmful traditional widowhood practices. Offenders are fined 5 000 Naira or face a two-year prison term.

The legislation reaches deep into the ambit of tradition to protect women and stave off the growth of HIV infection. Among harmful traditional practices frowned at by the legislation are practices which confine a widow to a place in the compound for three months without having a bath.

Widows are sometimes forced into a second marriage with a brother-in-law or any surviving male relation. In other cases, they can be disinherited of their husbands’ property while in certain communities, a widow is forced to perform certain cleansing rituals during which she is forced to have sexual intercourse with the chief priest of the shrine.

In her paper on harmful traditional widowhood practices and HIV/AIDS, Eleanor Nwadinobi, President of the Widows Development Organisation, a non-governmental organization based in Enugu, Eastern Nigeria, said in the context of HIV/AIDS, African widows are particularly vulnerable because of harmful traditional practices.
‘’The practices which have direct relationship to HIV/AIDS are early marriages, widow inheritance and sexual cleansing. The practice of early marriage means that young brides are facing widowhood at an earlier age because of older husbands dying of AIDS,’’ she said.
“Stressing the violation of widow’s rights in terms of HIV/AIDS may ensure that the rights of all widows gain greater public and international attention,’’Nwadinobi said.

‘’We can play our part as participants at this Commonwealth NGO Forum by asking questions and challenging actions, by exercising our rights in the face of opposition, we must expose decisions that are fundamentally faulty,’’ she said.