Linking AIDS campaign to development

Programmes to combat AIDS must be "integrated into all development programmes," and not be pursued in isolation, argues Ms. Mercy Makhalemele, executive director of the Tsabotsogo Community Development and Training Centre in South Africa. This is important not only to advance prevention efforts directed toward people at risk of infection, but also for those who already are HIV-positive. "If people with HIV live in a society where water is dirty, they will die of diarrhea," she told Africa Recovery. "So water also is important to people who have AIDS."

Photo: Eric Miller

Ms. Makhalemele, a single mother, is herself HIV-positive. She was one of the co-founders of the National Association of People Living with AIDS (NAPWA), established in 1994, and remains on its board. She has been at the forefront of the movement in South Africa for fair and equitable access to AIDS drugs. As one of the first women activists to disclose her HIV status, she also has been a prominent advocate for HIV-positive women. The programmes of her centre focus primarily on young people (in the Johannesburg area) and on women (in Durban), providing education and information about AIDS alongside training in basic life skills, job creation, community clean-up and other development activities.

With young people in particular, she suggests, it is important not to lecture or judge, but to recognize that they have many different concerns, such as employment, schooling and social companionship. The better they are able to develop skills for dealing with the wide array of life choices facing them, the more responsible they are likely to be in guarding against sexually transmitted diseases.

One of the problems with anti-AIDS programmes in South Africa today is that responsibility for them is overly concentrated in just the department of health, Ms. Makhalemele argues. In addition, "the social welfare department must do something about AIDS. Agriculture must do something about AIDS. All of them.... The health sector is overburdened, mainly because the other sectors are not physically getting involved. They have developed policies which are sitting in their offices. Our education department has not implemented the policy on AIDS in schools, to educate these young people."

Given her emphasis on dealing with AIDS in an overall context that includes broader public health and socio-economic issues, Ms. Makhalemele differs with those AIDS activists in South Africa who focus more exclusively on treatment and drug access questions. "Anti-retrovirals are an important treatment," she acknowledges. However, "there has to be a balance.... If you provide treatment, you have to have the infrastructure." It is vital to also address problems of poverty and unsanitary environments, which can seriously affect people's health and their ability to take care of themselves. She herself often has trouble making ends meet. "And if I'm struggling, what about the woman in a rural area?"

Material from this article may be freely reproduced, with attribution to
"Africa Recovery, United Nations".
We would appreciate a copy of the reproduction.

Africa Recovery
Room S-931
United Nations
New York, NY 10017 USA

Tel: (212) 963-6857
Fax: (212) 963-4556
Email: africa_recovery@un.org

Website: www.africarecovery.org
Contact us by email: africa_recovery@un.org