SOUTH AFRICA: NAPWA hits out at financial institutions

Discrimination by financial institutions in South Africa continues to disadvantage People living with AIDS, the director of the national association of PWAs told PlusNews on Friday.

Nkululeko Nxesi said the South African National Association of People living with HIV/AIDS (NAPWA) had received a number of complaints from people who had lost their loans after banks and other financial insitutions had discovered their HIV status. But he added that there was little NAPWA could do as few people were prepared to go public.

In a statement issued before the opening of NAPWA's first national conference in Johannesburg on Thursday, the association condemned the recent eviction of orphans whose parents had died from HIV/AIDS and related illnesses in Soweto, a sprawling township outside Johannesburg. "We view this amount of insensitivity by financial institutions as displaying unreasonably unjust ignorance of the realities of our present day society," the statement said.

Nxesi said NAPWA would embark on a campaign to educate people living with HIV/AIDS on their rights. The campaign would also train them to raise issues of discrimination and would encourage members of NAPWA to get involved in a mass protest action targeted at banks and insurance companies and other sectors. "We are also going to link up with the legal system and ask them why they have been so quiet about this discrimination," he added.

Despite their commitment to fighting for the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS, the organisation is experiencing a financial crisis. Nxesi described NAPWA as "the poorest AIDS organisation" in the country. NAPWA has been experiencing problems with its main donor - the government's Department of Health - and the delivery of funds has been slow. Despite these difficulties, a recent fundraising initiative raised US $10,000 and this money will be used to create income generating projects for impoverished members in the Gauteng province, Nxesi said.

However, Nxesi criticised fundraising campaigns which used the HIV/AIDS pandemic as a "money-making scheme" and forgot about people living with HIV/AIDS (PWAs) at grassroots level. He also accused some PWA's of squandering their resources and not providing any support for their members.

NAPWA's financial crisis has placed a strain on the many services it provides. But Nxesi said NAPWA was the "human face of the HIV/AIDS epidemic" in the country and would continue to survive. The organisation provides care and support on how to live positively and information on nutrition and treatment. NAPWA also participates in awareness campaigns and acts as a lobby and advocacy group.

The statement issued by NAPWA also expressed concern over the South African government's delay in providing antiretrovirals for all. While acknowledging that people living with HIV/AIDS had a right to accessible treatment, Nxesi added that this treatment should not be limited to antiretroviral drugs. He argued that the call for the provision of antiretrovirals should go hand in hand with more elementary treatment such as care and nutrition. He warned that the current debate on antiretrovirals had overshadowed the provision of basic treatment to treat opportunistic diseases.

For more information on NAPWA:
http://www.health.gov.za/hiv_aids/napwa.htm
mailto:[email protected]

Theme (s): Care/Treatment - PlusNews,

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]