Diet of semi-nomadic group could jeopardize health of those infected with HIV, AIDS, church leaders say
An unbalanced diet among the Masai—a small, semi-nomadic people group living in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania—could compromise the survival of those infected with HIV and AIDS, doctors say.
The Masai diet of mostly milk and occasionally blood for protein can be detrimental to those infected with HIV or AIDS, according to Drs. Oscar and Eugenia Giordano, Seventh-day Adventist medical missionaries based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
For the estimated 500,000 Masais, who live on semi-arid lands, food is almost exclusively derived from cattle. But it’s important that those infected with the disease eat a balanced diet of various fruits, vegetables, grains and protein, Dr. Oscar Giordano explains.
The Giordanos direct the Adventist AIDS International Ministry and for four years have worked to turn Adventist churches throughout Africa into support centers for the communities in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Two years ago they started working with the Masai in the Kisaju region—about two hours outside of Nairobi.
Outsiders don’t usually go into Masai territory but for us the door is open through Adventist Masai, Dr. Oscar Giordano explains. “In time we hope to go even further into the territory.”
“They live in a very primitive way,” Dr. Eugenia Giordano explains. “They don’t have a balanced diet and they don’t eat a variety of food. They are acutely affected and infected by HIV and AIDS.”
Learning balanced dietary habits is important because “HIV and AIDS is not rare even among the Masai,” says Dr. Fesaha Tsegaye, Health Ministries director for the Adventist Church in East-Central Africa. “Culturally they have been set aside and marginalized so it’s good that the church is using compassionate ministry to reach them.”
However, the Giordanos were able to reach some of the Masai through the Ntorosi-Kajiado Seventh-day Adventist Church. They held training seminars, translated educational materials on HIV and AIDS into the Masai language and established support groups at the 180-member church. The importance of eating a balanced diet is often emphasized in the seminars.
There are now seven support groups in Kisaju working on income-generating activities that include gardening, baking, running a barber shop, sewing uniforms and selling beadwork.
Dr. Alan Handysides, health ministries director for the Adventist world church, says working with the Masai is a challenge because of their traditionally closed culture.
Solomon Lenana, an HIV and AIDS coordinator and volunteer pastor to the 800 Masai Adventists in Kisaju, says this kind of HIV and AIDS support or intervention initiative is a first for church members.
Dr. Oscar Giordano and Dr. Tsegaye say while there are no reliable studies on how many Masai are infected with HIV and AIDS, rates could run anywhere from 7 percent to 12 percent.
Last year a drought devastated their crops—which would have given them a more varied diet—leaving them to rely on animals for their food. Still, the training that the Giordanos have led at the church has made Lenana and other Adventist Masai optimistic about reaching all 3,000 Masai in the Kisaju region.
Nasieku Sitat, a support group leader says, “We as young mothers are able to talk freely on how to avoid this [HIV and AIDS] epidemic since some of us have taken adult literacy classes so we can explain the things that contribute to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.”