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Civil Society’s Response to HIV in South Africa 

HIV in South AfricaFollowing apartheid, South Africa became the focal point of the AIDS epidemic. Despite the rapid rise of HIV in South Africa, the governmental response was slow. During the 1980s, people often assumed that the virus spread because of the behaviors of injection drug users and gay men. However, the spread of the disease in Africa looked incredibly different since more than half of the people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa were women.

HIV and AIDS in South Africa

When HIV and AIDS started having a widespread impact on South African society and communities, President Thabo Mbeki followed the arguments of Peter Duesberg. Duesberg believed that HIV could not be the cause of AIDS. This was opposed to Western medical approaches to solve the epidemic. Moreover, Tshabalala-Msimang, the Health Minister, advocated for nutritional solutions in 2003.

Other countries tried to help President Mbeki but were unsuccessful in persuading him. Civil society groups raised grave concerns over the need for urgent action. One of the most prominent groups to raise concerns and to have the greatest impact in the region was the Treatment Action Campaign.

The Treatment Action Campaign

Zackie Achmat, along with fellow 10 activists, founded the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in 1998. Achmat was a gay rights activist living with HIV. TAC was a tripartite alliance between the AIDS Law Project and COSATU. It was formed as a response to HIV in South Africa. The organization was needed because of the lack of urgency that the government and the medical industry had in responding to the virus. 

TAC is a rights-based organization focused on getting those in need access to treatment for HIV/AIDS. TAC is technical and political in its arguments as it utilizes justifications for actions through moral, scientific and economic reasoning. Also, TAC develops partnerships with activist groups such as the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) and ACT UP. It aids in training on ‘treatment literacy’ and initiated a more extensive peer education network. In addition, TAC formed partnerships between elites, academics, professionals and press. However, it ultimately served to strengthen the effort for the poor to advocate for themselves. TAC uses its sources for social mobilization, advocacy, legal action and education.

TAC Fight Against HIV in South Africa

TAC’s first action was to argue for the right to access medical resources, namely antiretrovirals (ARVs). The organization found an inherent fault with the World Trade Organization’s 1995 TRIPS agreement, which legally protected intellectual property and patents.

In 1998, TAC demanded that the South African government introduced a program to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT). The social movement around advocacy for PMTCT was primarily made up of predominantly poor black women living with HIV. The issue was framed as a moral issue. The pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was profiteering off the sale of the drug. As a result, TAC demanded a price reduction and framed it as a moral issue regarding the South African constitution. The organization succeeded in its demand for legal action.

TAC’s Success

The essential tools for TAC’s success were its use of legal resources and advocacy. TAC made legal demands of the South African government. It also collaborated with progressive lawyers, scientists and researchers to develop plans and alternative policy proposals. TAC went beyond merely advocating for the poor and based policy on the entitlement of rights. The organization has taken successful litigation measures on many occasions. The past successful cases were supported by the efforts of lawyers and TAC’s actions, which involved marches, media campaigns, legal education and social mobilization.

This was possible due to advocacy and partnerships that TAC formed and developed. The structures in which it functioned also made it possible. Article 27 of the South African Constitution took effect in 1997. It includes the right to access medical services, reproductive healthcare and emergency medical treatment.

A key component that made TAC successful was the context in which it was based. The actions of TAC would not be possible without the tools it employed that were already in place within South African infrastructure and ideology. Additionally, TAC focused on the issues of the affected people. This included economic inequity, women’s rights, post-apartheid race relations and the necessity of medication access. The Treatment Action Campaign met immediate and long-term demands for people affected with HIV by addressing inherent human rights issues. TAC was mostly successful in its response to HIV in South Africa because it mobilized the personal into the political.

– Danielle Barnes
Photo: Flickr

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How to Reduce HIV/AIDS in South Africa

Life Expectancy Rate in South Africa
The life expectancy rate in South Africa was one of the lowest in the world due to the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the country. The prevalence of HIV and AIDS in the country has been one of the most significant causes of low life expectancy in South Africa. However, with more and more cases being treated and new resources becoming available to help to prevent the disease, it may be possible to reduce the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in South Africa.

The Effect of HIV/AIDS in South Africa

South Africa has a population of 56.5 million people, which is an increase of about 900,000 since last year. In 2006, Women had a life expectancy of about 54.7 years of age and men at about 52.3 years, which made the countries average life expectancy 53.5 years of age. Currently, the life expectancy in South Africa is up 10.5 years to 64.

Today, South Africa has estimated that 13 out of 100 people or  7.06 million people in the country are HIV positive. Although, cases of HIV in people ages 18 to 24 has been decreasing. The rates have dropped by 3.3 percent from 2002 to 2017 from 7.3 percent to 4.6 percent.

Preventing the Spread of HIV/AIDS to Babies

By the year 2000, the rate of newborn babies born with the HIV virus was about 80,000 children a year. The antiretroviral drug nevirapine was offered to the government to treat at least half of those children for free. However, the government declined it and, instead, introduced a therapy that would prevent mother-to-child-transmission (PMTCT). Unfortunately, the treatment was delayed for about a year and not offered everywhere. As a result, most mothers were denied access to the treatment.

The infant mortality rate for children under the age of five in 2002 was close to 71 per 1,000 children; however, the Treatment Action Campaign took legal action and won against The Minister of Health to make PMTCT available to all mothers in hospitals within South Africa.

The Importance of HIV/AIDS Testing

Testing for HIV/AIDS in South Africa is the primary way of fighting the infection. The world largest effort to test for HIV was conducted in 2010. About 44 million people in South Africa have been tested for the infection, with about 10 million are tested every year. A fixed-dose combination of antiretroviral medication was introduced in 2013, which made adhering to treatment easier. In 2016, The Department of Health began to distribute treatment to anyone diagnosed with HIV.

HIV thrives in places with poor living conditions and places that do not have the tools to practice safe sex. In late June of 2016, South Africa introduced a campaign that would aim to help girls and young women to avoid being exposed to HIV—such as safe sex education and fighting the use of drugs and alcohol. They also have come up with a program to discourage sexual violence in boys and men.

HIV has been one of the main contributors to low life expectancy in South Africa; however, the life expectancy rate is showing improvements as programs aimed at treating and reducing HIV/AIDS in South Africa become more readily available.

– David Daniels
Photo: Flickr

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Five Organizations Fighting HIV and AIDS

organizations fighting HIV and AIDSAs of 2016, more than 36 million people worldwide are living with HIV or AIDS. Though the incidence rate of HIV and AIDS has been decreasing since the late 1990s, UNAIDS’s goal of achieving an AIDS-free generation is still far off. These five organizations fighting HIV and AIDS are contributing to the success of HIV and AIDS prevention as well as helping to provide antiretroviral therapy (ART) and counseling for those affected.

 

Elton John AIDS Foundation

In the midst of the rapidly growing AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and ’90s, singer-songwriter Elton John founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) to provide much-needed financial support in the fight against HIV and AIDS. John believes he is lucky to have avoided the AIDS epidemic as a gay man who partook in extremely risky behavior in the 1980s, including drug abuse. “I should have contracted HIV in the 1980s and died in the 1990s, just like Freddie Mercury,” he said at the International AIDS Conference in 2012. “Every day I wonder, how did I survive?”

The EJAF aims to dismantle the stigma surrounding those with HIV and AIDS as well as provide financial support for HIV prevention and treatment around the world. The EJAF has two branches—one in the U.S. and one in the U.K.—and has been rated a four-star charity, the highest rating a nonprofit can achieve.

 

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Named the richest man in America for 24 years in a row, Bill Gates has been extremely philanthropic with his wealth. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has donated more than $41 billion since it was created. A large portion of those donations—approximately $4.6 billion—have gone toward global health initiatives, including HIV prevention and treatment. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has funneled money into improving the diagnosis and treatment of HIV, as well as toward the continued research involved in creating a vaccine to prevent HIV. It is one of the most well-known organizations fighting HIV and AIDS.

 

The Global Fund

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a recipient of grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Those funds have been put toward providing ART to more than 11 million people and preventing the transmission of HIV through the womb from mother to child. Over four million HIV-positive women have received treatment to protect their babies during and after pregnancy.

The Global Fund also fights the stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS and provides diverse prevention efforts in order to include children and women. These efforts continue to encourage people to seek preventative measures and treatment rather than avoiding it due to stigma.

 

Treatment Action Campaign

Africa has the highest burden of HIV and AIDS worldwide. The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), founded in 1998, focuses on South Africa and the prevention and treatment methods being employed there. UNAIDS director Dr. Peter Piot considers TAC to be “the smartest activist group of all, worldwide.”

TAC monitors hospitals, trains campaign members on the basic science of HIV and AIDS, and advocates for the right to access healthcare.

 

amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research

Created during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in 1985, amfAR has been a leader in AIDS research. Because of the homophobia surrounding HIV and AIDS in the ’80s, many organizations were unwilling to speak out in support of AIDS research. amfAR was established in order to raise private funds for AIDS research, educate the public and support those suffering from HIV and AIDS.

amfAR ultimately kickstarted research that led to the creation of ART. amfAR has also supported HIV prevention methods such as safe needle exchange and safe sex provisions.

Though the HIV and AIDS epidemic is far from over, these organizations fighting HIV and AIDS, as well as many others, are contributing to the health of current and future generations.

– Anna Sheps

Photo: Flickr