Faith healers preach against HIV treatment
For 30 years, Malawi has had one of the highest prevalence rates for HIV in the world.
In 2021, about 990 000 people were living with the virus. Every year, the southeastern African nation of 20 million also records 13 000 Aids-related deaths.
The vast majority of those affected are receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART), the most effective treatment for HIV.
But in recent years, some HIV-positive Malawians have reportedly been abandoning their belief in doctors in favour of prayer, thanks to the rise of New Pentecostal church leaders who claim to specialise in faith healing.
According to the 2018 census, 77 percent of the country’s population is Christian, with New Pentecostal congregants now making up 7.6 percent of all inhabitants.
Several church leaders, whose theology is rooted in faith healing, encourage the sick to reject medicine and turn to God. In some cases, members who seek outside treatment are excommunicated from their congregations.
Zion Church, a breakaway from established New Pentecostal churches, does not allow its members to be on ART. Members who visit hospitals are reported to the church leadership by fellow believers and are consequently kicked out of the church.
Paul Golomani, a senior pastor at Zion, defends his ministry by quoting Mark 10:52: ‘Go,’ said Jesus, ‘Your faith has healed you.’ Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
“The Constitution of Malawi gives us the freedom to worship,” says Golomani. Medical doctors want us to do what they want and not what God wants.”
Though he admits that some Zion Church members have died for refusing medical treatment, Golomani argues that patients who have sought treatment have died too.
According to a 2021 study in the British Medical Journal, Pentecostal Christian leaders in sub-Saharan Africa base much of their teaching on prophecies and miracles.
“Consequently, people living with HIV are becoming increasingly attracted to Pentecostal churches as they listen to testimonies of such faith-based healing through various channels,” write the study’s authors.
Eletina Mzuwala, 41, who lives in the Central Region with her three children, was diagnosed with HIV last year.
Despite losing her husband to Aids-related illness in 2017, Mzuwala has declined ART.
“It is God who will heal my disease,” she says. “My husband never believed in God, he was on ART, but we still lost him.”
Mzuwala belongs to Good News Ministries in Lilongwe, Malawi, which Patson Gondwe established in 2015. Known for his “miracle healings.” Gondwe has a following of almost 5 000 people.
In response to these healing claims, the government passed a law in 2018 that criminalizes anyone who proclaims or publishes false and inaccurate information about HIV and Aids .The offence is punishable by a term of five years in jail.
Authorities have also prosecuted individual church leaders and family members who denied medical help to the sick.
Now, the Malawi Government is working with local religious groups, including Muslim and Christian organisations, to encourage their members to seek medical services.
But for these laws to create change, the government must work harder to properly enforce them.
