Maravi

25 years of living with HIV and AIDS

COMMENT - Another 'World AIDS Day' rolls by. There doesn't seem to be a special theme this year.

25 years of living with HIV and AIDS
By Editor
Tue 01 Dec. 2009, 04:00 CAT

Statistics indicating that the HIV and AIDS prevalence rate have reduced from 16 per cent to 14.3 per cent are a positive sign for Zambia as a country towards the fight against the disease.

However, the indication should not by any means attract complacence from our government, non-governmental organisations, the Church and other stakeholders that we are doing enough as a country to fight HIV and AIDS. And that is why we commend the recent advice by the World Health Organisation to have HIV-infected people start antiretroviral therapy earlier in a bid to prolong their lives.
Any effort aimed at helping the nation to sustain the lives of our productive people is highly welcome.

Every year, on December 1, which is World AIDS Day, different stakeholders gather to talk about the progress being made in the fight against HIV and AIDS. This year the theme is ‘Universal Access and Human Rights’. And the question we should be asking ourselves is: where are we in achieving universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support and in ensuring that every person’s human rights are respected?

From the time the first case of HIV was reported in Zambia in 1984, that is 25 years ago, it can be said that a lot of progress has been made. There are more people receiving antiretroviral treatment which currently stands at 67 per cent from last year’s 53 per cent, according to the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and UNAIDS.

But there are still issues of people in far-flung areas not being able to access the life-saving drugs because of a number of reasons such as poor roads, long distances to the clinics where people have to walk many kilometres to access medical help. As a result, some people stop taking the drugs and become resistant.

There is also the issue of nutrition where some people do not have enough food and therefore cannot take the drugs on an empty stomach. Also, the number of Zambians that still do not know their status remains high. With a population of 12 million people, only 15 per cent have taken an HIV test and know their status.

A lot needs to be done in this area. We know that a lot of programmes and interventions have been put in place to sensitise people on the advantages of knowing one’s status. Civil society organisations and the government can be commended for doing a lot of good work in this area but it seems new approaches are needed because the current ones seem not to be working well. These approaches should come from everybody - the Church, politicians, civil society and the media itself - because every Zambian is either infected or affected by HIV and AIDS.

With regard to prevention, it all begins with poverty. When the high poverty levels are dealt with, the country may start seeing a reduction in new infections.

The issues of multiple concurrent sexual partners, which include married people having many sexual partners, commercial sex workers, low condom use and low circumcision rates are matters that need urgent attention.

Commercial sex work and men having “plot one and two” all have to do with poverty and these are the issues that have to be dealt with.

However, condom use in Zambia is said to still be low even though demand is said to be increasing. The country is said to be in need of 53 million condoms every year but only between 21 and 22 million are distributed. And that is why we have always insisted on the Church and other stakeholders to encourage citizens of the reproductive age, and even those who cannot stick to one partner, to always use condoms.

As United Nations special envoy on AIDS in Africa Elizabeth Mataka has rightly observed, there is need to partner with men in addressing factors that fuel the epidemic in Africa such as multiple concurrent relationships, sexual violence, inter-generational and survival sex. All these issues require the efforts of both men and women.

Issues of defilement require the efforts of men themselves to get involved and put a stop to this. We cannot afford as a country to go on with business as usual when every day a child is defiled and infected with HIV. It seems there is something we are doing wrong as a country for such cases to continue being reported every day. We should be asking ourselves why this has continued; we should ask ourselves what makes a man in his normal senses to have sex with a four-month-old baby. All these issues are hindering progress in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

As Mataka has observed, a lot more needs to be done to ensure that women and girls across sub-Saharan Africa access comprehensive HIV prevention, care and support services.

Despite numerous efforts, women and girls still bear the brunt of HIV and AIDS.
There can be no meaningful universal peace and development without all citizens enjoying equal and affordable access to healthcare when and to the extent to which they need it.

The Preamble to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), to which our country is signatory, states that: “The recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world…” Zambia is thus required to recognise the right of everyone to enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health. And among the steps prescribed in Article 12 of that document for states to fully realise this right is the creation of conditions which would assure every member of the human family, without discrimination on any basis, medical service and medical attention as and when they need it.

It is regrettable, however, that as a country, we have not made satisfactory progress as far as the realisation of this fundamental right is concerned, particularly in relation to HIV and AIDS. Despite the right to health being a human right, people in Zambia, especially women and girls, still do not have access to proper medical services. Children are still born with HIV in this age when prevention of mother-to-child transmission is readily available. We still have wives and husbands who hide their status from their spouses, which is an infringement on a person’s human rights.

We need to do more as a country in these areas to ensure that every human being enjoys their rights.

Are we as a country treating people living with HIV and AIDS the way they should be treated?
These are some of the questions we should ask ourselves as we commemorate the World AIDS Day today.

Labels: HIV/AIDS, WORLD AIDS DAY

posted by MrK @ 3:53 AM