World Aids Day 1 December 2008

Stefan Marais creating awareness at Optima around World Aids day,
please read the article below by Ian Macdonald




There is precious little good news about the South African HIV/Aids epidemic. To mark World Aids Day, we examine what South Africa can learn from Uganda’s successful Aids policies, we look at the challenges facing our war against Aids and we applaud the heroes that are making a difference.
Some sub-Saharan countries have taken decisive action to curb the spread of Aids. Uganda, for instance, owes its success in reducing high HIV infection rates to a high-level political commitment to HIV prevention and care. Right from the start, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni adopted a policy of frank and honest discussion on the causes and consequences of HIV/Aids. A well-managed public education campaign changed sexual behaviour and challenged the stigmas attached to the virus. Uganda was also one of the first African countries to distribute anti-retroviral (ARV) medication. In 2004, the Ugandan government – with the financial assistance of the World Bank and the Global Fund for HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria - began dispensing free ARV treatment to its HIV positive citizens. Uganda’s progressive HIV/Aids policies have ensured that the HIV prevalence rate has dropped from around 18 percent in the early 1990's to 7 percent in 2004.
According to Wikipedia, in countries where there is access to antiretroviral treatment, both mortality and morbidity of HIV infection have been reduced. Antiretroviral (ARV) treatment can extend the healthy life of someone living with HIV. However, side-effects of these antiretrovirals have also caused problem such as lipodystrophy (abnormal or degenerative conditions of the body's fat tissue), dyslipidaemia (high blood cholesterol), insulin resistance and an increase in cardiovascular risks. Although treatments for both Aids and HIV exist, there is no known cure.
South Africa’s alarming HIV infection rate is well documented. We have a full-blown crisis on our hands. That is the reality. The government, and particularly the Minister of Health, has frequently been lambasted for their hazy, slow-moving and controversial Aids policies. Too much time has already been wasted quibbling about the link between HIV and Aids, courting the opinion of so-called Aids dissidents and discouraging the use of antiretroviral medication.
Recently, the South African government has made progress. Two years ago, a sound Operational Plan for Comprehensive Care and Treatment for people living with HIV and Aids (promoting prevention, education, and the roll-out of antiretrovirals) was approved.
The government’s treatment plan has had its glitches and delays, and the ARV roll-out has not been as wide-spread as planned, yet it is heartening to see that, finally, we are moving in the right direction. This is thanks in no small part to the tireless activism and action of the likes of the late Nkosi Johnson and Zackie Achmat and the thousands of grassroots activists of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC).
Our South African spirit of activism, so powerfully forged during the struggle against apartheid, lives on in the 21st century!
Education is of paramount importance in the battle against Aids. Twenty years after the virus reared its ugly head, Aids still carries a social stigma in South Africa. Our leaders and indeed all South Africans need follow the bold example of Uganda’s President and speak loudly and clearly and unambiguously about Aids. As the antiretroviral rollout begins to enable HIV positive South Africans to lead healthy lives, the pool of people able to transmit the virus will increase. Education will be needed to prevent an increase in new infections.
Initiatives such as loveLife have been launched to educate the public about HIV/Aids. While their off-beat advertising has built a funky and well-recognised brand, the message is quite obscure and sophisticated and may be missed by target market – 12- to 17-year-olds. However, loveLife has been endorsed by Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter and UN Aids experts and claims to have had a significant impact on its audience. Among those that are sexually active and know the loveLife brand, 78% say that loveLife encouraged them to use condoms and 69% reduced their number of sexual partners.
The South African business sector has taken proactive steps and has been lauded internationally for their progressive Aids policies. South African-based companies lead the way in the response to HIV/Aids, according to a World Economic Forum study. The study found that up to 91% of South African companies have an HIV/Aids policy in place.
Their best practices could act as a guide to business in other developing countries. Some of the strongest HIV/Aids business efforts in the world are in Africa; they include workplace programmes at Anglo American, BMW, Heineken, VW, Standard Chartered and Eskom. In fact, data from 500 large businesses in South Africa show 86% have policies and prevention programmes in place and 65% offer treatment and care to their employees.
The battle against Aids is also being waged at the coalface by dynamic and brave individuals who are tackling the enormous social consequences of the Aids pandemic. Armed with passion, inspired by love, emboldened by conviction, and not overwhelmed by the enormity of the task, these champions are having a profound effect on the lives of those ravaged by the virus – the HIV positive and the children orphaned by Aids. People like Agnes Qwabe (http://www.childrenofthedawn.org.za/), Anthony Farr of the Starfish Greathearts Foundation (http://www.starfishcharity.org/), Dr Greg Ash of Noah (http://www.noahorphans.org.za/) and Rev. Sunette Pienaar of Heartbeat (http://www.heartbeat.org.za/) are making an unquantifiable difference in the lives of the growing number of Aids orphans of South Africa. It is estimated that some 3000 care centres have been set up by ordinary South Africans. Approximately 900,000 of the estimated 1,000,000 Aids orphans are being cared for in one way or another
Aids is a serious threat to South Africa’s economic, political and social prosperity. As can be seen in the Ugandan example, the battle against Aids can be won. We cannot afford to rest. We cannot wait on the government to beat back the tide of Aids. Each of us, as individuals or as a collective, CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Just ask Anthony Farr or Agnes Qwabe or Greg Ash or Zackie Achmat or Sunette Pienaar. These, and countless others, are the heroes of the ‘new struggle’. They can’t do it alone. Aluta continua. The struggle continues.
By Ian Macdonald