Reproductive Health, HIV/AIDS and Gender Perspectives in East Africa: Understanding the Oromo Culture

This book is a result of a ground breaking research conducted in Oromiya, Ethiopia to understand the socio-cultural underpinnings of the salient cultural practices feared to fuel the spread of HIV epidemic and affect sexual and reproductive health among the world's most studied pastoralist community. The Oromo people in East Africa are one of the three largest ethno-national groups and possess a unique and more than five century old indigenous African Democracy-the Gada System. The author's research on RH, HIV/AIDS and Gender perspectives was preceded by an award winning research to explore the roles of traditional Oromo leaders in the fight against HIV/AIDS, promotion of RH and Gender empowerments. Understanding the sexual and reproductive health philosophies that necessitated the existence of practices such as polygamy, widow inheritance and culturally tolerated extramarital sexual partnership would greatly contribute to the endeavors of all stakeholders and actors working to tackle HIV, RH and Gender related problems in similar pastoralist communities such as the Somali & Afar people.