The future still blured for a Person living with HIV in Zimbabwe.....

Zimbabwe is one of the African countries which has been hit by the AIDS pandemic and still not everyone can acces the life saving drugs. Without taking away any credit from the efforts that the government has made so far, it is a concen and a lot of ( People Living with HIV) PLHIV are living in fear of not having their drugs in the near future. The economic sitution can be blamed for the challenges PLHIV are facing but still it is the view of this writer that more can be done. Should Zimbabwe surely rely on donours for the precious lives of its people?The question is valuable considereng a revelation made by the former Minister of Health and Child Welfair DR Parirenyatwa that 98% of the drugs at the  National Pharmaceutical Company of Zimbabwe (NAT PHARM ) are donour funded and only 2% belongs to the governemnt fo Zimbabwe.Quiet shocking for a country which is rich in minerals which are making  a huge sale abroad.

 

In light of the above revelation, one will wonder what the role  of the National AIDs Trust Funds (NATIF) which is coordinated by the National AIDS Council (NAC) is playing in all this. The truth is, there is no clear and straight answer because all is there are financial reports which needs an interpreter for people like some of us who are freaked out by numbers. Zimbabwe is however applauded for the NATIF funds where every formal employee in Zimbabwe get to contribute 3% of their salary as AIDS levy but is it really a good practice in real life. The National AIDS Council of Zimbawe is now one of the biggest employer in Zimbabwe and so much money is being spent on adminastration, how does this benefit a person who is living with HIV and not accessing their medication?. Of late shortages of drugs for PLHIV has become the order of the day and this has a great impact as most PLHIV are not emloyed and can not afford to buy the drugs over the counter. This has only cought he attention of  the affected people but  nothing is being done to rectify the problem, infact at this crucial time NAC employees are showered with allowances and loans to buy cars and houses. Not that it is the fault of the NAC employees who are at the receiving end but the blame goes to the NAC ACT which legalises all they are doing. The problem then goes back to the NAC Act, as it is proving to be a  monster which was created long back and now its effects are beggining  to show. After all, the establshement of the NATF funds came as a result of PLHIV marching and spending nights in the streets, so it is them that should benefit from the AIDS Levy. PLHIV on the 10th of October returned to the streets again upon realising that, the AIDS Levy is not being beneficial to them.

 

 

some of the crowd who participated in the march held on the 10th of October 2012.

 

Divertng from NAC, does it mean that locally it is the responsibility of the National AIDS Council to make sure that ARVS are available all the time for people who need them? The answer is no, and neither is it the responsibility of the Donours. Looking from within Zimbabwe, there are rich people who are channelling their funds in the wrong direction for instance we have Mbada diomonds, surely  they can spare a few dollars for the sick and plough back to the community. There are also people like Makandiwa who are making thousand of dollars during every service, what is more important, buying one of the Mahendere brothers a benz and many others or funding the health care system ? The truth is that, money is there in Zimbabwe but the priorites of those with resources are just misplaced. Even the Government itself does not seem to be bugged by the situation because at a time when there is no war in the country, huge amount of money is spent on the army and buying ammunition.

 

The time is now, for people to refocus their attention on things that matter, like making sure that the healthcare system is fully funded with much focus being on making sure that ARVs are available for everyone. This will also be a step in the right direction towards attaining 'zero new infections, zero HIV related deaths and zero descrimination.' This is just food for thought, an ice back on the tip... the writer just  tried to bring out a number of  issues..food for thought!........

Pros and Cons of Door to Door HIV testing.

I hear the Minister of Health, Henry Madzorera has plans to launch a door to door HIV testing country wide. Surely that is a disaster in the making because what then if everyone is tested? Yes it is good for people to know their HIV status but what will happen to those found to be positive? 

The country at the moment cannot afford to provide medication to everyone who has been tested so far, a number of HIV+ people are still on the waiting list to get medication. In a situation like this how then can door to door testing be a good thing when all it will bring is suffering upon innocent people. An estimated 425 497 people are currently on ART (Anti Retro- Viral Therapy) out of the 547 000 people requiring ART, clearly as it is, the burden is too much and the government cannot afford to cater for everyone who needs treatment. Why then would we want to increase the burden and put the lives of many in danger by forcing them to get tested and fail to provide treatment for them? Ladies and gentlemen think about it. Is it not proper to first increase the funding for health and make sure there is adequate money for everyone to access treatment if found to be HIV+?

With the possible cancellation of the Global Fund round 11, there is need for the government and other local potential donors to start looking in their bags and see what they can come up with to increase health-care funding. It is sad these measures are going to be taken now when they were supposed to have been done a long time ago. The government must start fulfilling the Abuja declaration requirements where a government is supposed to allocate at least 15% of the national budget to health. 

Zimbabwe is a signatory to the Abuja declaration and so should honor its promise and  increase health-care funding so that the Global fund can just provide additional resources like it is supposed to do and not have a country rely mostly on Global fund. Looking at Zimbabwe, can we say that it does not have enough natural resources that can be tapped and the money used to increase health-care funding? No, Zimbabwe do have vast minerals that it can utilize and on top so many local potential donors that can help too, look for instance at how much Mbada Diomonds is investing in soccer, can’t we get more people like that to invest in a worthy cause like health-care financing? We can, if we can all put our heads together and really see how much people are suffering health wise in our country.

Door to door HIV  testing will be a disaster if done now when there is no enough treatment for those found to be HIV+ and in urgent need of treatment, but it will be a good thing if done when health-care funding has been increased and there are enough resources to provide adequate medication to those in need.

part 1- Life

Life is not difficult as it might seem neither is it as easy as it might seem. It might be true that for one to survive and make it to the top,one has to be related or at least know someone at the top, but for the life that this writer has led ,everyone as long as determined has an equal chance to get to the top and all it takes is determination and patience.  For the believers, thats when we talk about having faith and believing that GOD is for us all and all it takes is to believe, have faith that one day my season will come.