Namibian Government to Prosecute Healers

Namibian officials recently ordered the arrest of all traditional healers who were advising HIV-infected individuals to have sex with minors, mistakenly believing that having sex with a virgin would cure their infection. The January 20th announcement from the government came as a result of recent media reports regardingan increasing number of rapes of minors. Lucy Steinitz, National Coordinator of the Catholic AIDS Action in Namibia, said the extent of the belief and practice of virginal rape is unclear and that officials should be cautious not to cast the entire traditional healing community into a bad light. UNAIDS reports that at least 20 percent of the sexually active adults in Namibia are infected with HIV.