ZIMBABWE: Activists shout from the
sidelines
HARARE, 8 October 2008 (PlusNews) -
The new board of Zimbabwe's National
AIDS Council (NAC) has a glaring
omission: not one member is living
openly with the HI-virus. AIDS
activists have slammed the move,
describing it as "discriminatory"
and a step backwards in the fight
against the epidemic.
The NAC was established in 1999 to
coordinate and facilitate Zimbabwe's
multi-sectoral response to HIV/AIDS,
and the board makes some of the
country's most important decisions
affecting the welfare of those
living with HIV.
When the board's term expired
recently, Zimbabwe's health
minister, David Parirenyatwa,
re-appointed seven previous board
members and named four new ones,
including the director of the
Zimbabwe Business Council on AIDS; a
gospel singer, and a member of the
Traditional Medical Practitioners
Council.
Martha Tolana of the Zimbabwe AIDS
Network, an umbrella body for over
400 non-governmental organisations,
who is openly living with HIV,
raised concerns about the exclusion
from the board of HIV-positive
people, or anyone from a member
organisation of the AIDS Network.
"The advantage of placing people
like us, who are living with HIV, in
strategic places such as the NAC
board is that we are better able to
articulate the issues that affect
other HIV-positive Zimbabweans,
because we experience them too," she
told IRIN/PlusNews.
(Embedded image moved to file:
pic04489.jpg)''?We are only
remembered when there is a workshop
to be held, and the organisers want
to use our testimonies to record
and take to donors for funding.
(Embedded image moved to file:
pic19631.jpg)''?
Joao Zangarati of the Grassroots
Movement of People Living with
HIV/AIDS warned that no response
could succeed without the meaningful
involvement of people who were
directly affected.
"We are only remembered when there
is a workshop to be held, and the
organisers want to use our
testimonies and life stories to
record and take to donors for
funding," he commented.
"After that we are forgotten, and
remembered again when it suits these
organisations. It is very
unfortunate really. There can't be
any meaningful interventions without
the guidance of us people living
with HIV and the sooner
policy-makers realise this, the
better for all of us," Zangarati
said.
NAC director Dr Tapuwa Magure said
there had been no deliberate attempt
to sideline people living with HIV,
and alleged that the "fragmented"
AIDS network organisations had
failed to "speak with one voice" and
agree on the names of people to be
put forward to sit on the board.
"The ministry of health and child
welfare wrote to AIDS network
organisations and requested names of
people living with HIV to be
included on the board, but there is
a lot of infighting and we haven't
received any names," he told
IRIN/PlusNews.
Nevertheless, Otto Saki, the
programmes coordinator of Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR),
pointed out that "it is not too
late" for the minister of health and
child welfare to include
HIV-positive representatives on the
board.
bs/kn/he
Themes: (IRIN) HIV/AIDS (PlusNews)
[ENDS]
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ReportId=80819
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