Religion and condoms: lessons from informal ties between health workers and non-governmental organisations for healthcare planning to address hiv and aids in africa

The literature on HIV and AIDS management has identified religious beliefs as obstacles to condom acceptance to minimise the spread of the disease. Ways to overcome such beliefs do not appear to have received adequate scholarly attention and so little is known about how to deal with religious beliefs to promote condoms. The purpose of this study is to show that although informal ties that are neo-patrimonial have been claimed to undermine the implementation of public policy, the trust that inheres in such informal relations across the local state and sections of civil society that mobilize around the disease can help to overcome these beliefs and win peoples’ support for condoms. Five out of the ten municipalities that top in HIV and AIDS prevalence in Ghana were purposively selected and studied through a cross-case approach. Detailed qualitative interviews were held with health officials and leaders of Civil Society Organisations that mobilize around HIV and AIDS. The study revealed that informal relations between these key officers enabled the Health Directorates and CSOs to develop joint efforts around the disease. These enabled them to shape religious beliefs positively towards condoms. The findings suggest that the conventional view that informal relations have the tendency to undermine policy implementation cannot be entirely correct. These ties can equally have positive developmental effects. The organisation of joint programmes among policy implementers and beneficiaries need to be encouraged for informal ties to be built widely and dense to promote transparency and minimise their weaknesses.