CULTURA, SAÚDE E DESENVOLVIMENTO EM MOÇAMBIQUE: UM OLHAR SOBRE O RITUAL DE PURIFICAÇÃO DE VIÚVAS –PITA KUFAE A PREVENÇÃO DO AIDS NA PROVÍNCIA DA ZAMBÉZIA EM MORRUMBALA

Abstract

This article presents an analysis about widows purification ritual practice -pita kufa and how the practices involved in ritual are relate to public health issues since, in the context of the socio-cultural aspects of AIDS in Mozambique, this practice is considered one of the causes that spread virus because the norms involved in the ritual are contradicted by the principles of promotion and prevention of the disease. Through the use of the qualitative method and as a tool the use of individual interviews and analysis of thematic content, it was verified that it is not only a practice of widows' purification, but purification by death of a person (regardless of marital status, gender and age). Although the community does not recognize that the pita kufa ritual can contribute to the spread of the AIDS virus, through the involvement of governmental authorities and NGOs, there is a tendency for sociocultural and spatial changes in the norms involved in the ritual.

Keywords

• cultural pratice
• rites
• pita kufa
• hiv-aids and community