SELBY MAKGOTHO, Pietersburg | Wednesday 9.30pm.
THE culture of fear shrouding Aids and HIV sufferers needs to be broken for South Africa to be effective in its fight against the pandemic, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki warned at the launch of a national Aids train in the Northern Province on Thursday.
Pointing out that HIV-positive people often hide their medical status from friends, family and even lovers for fear of violent reaction, Mbeki said South African society has to mature in order to beat the disease. “The killing of brave KwaZulu Natal Aids activist Gugu Dlamini after she revealed her HIV-positive status must encourage the rest of us to support and protect those who speak out against Aids,” he said. “Women are particularly vulnerable to this disease and to society’s reaction. We need to stand up and support their fight.”
Mbeki and a bevy of other national politicians attended the launch of the Women in Partnership Against Aids train in Pietersburg on Thursday. The train, which has been sponsored by Spoornet, has been hailed as a showcase of co-operation between civil society and government and is designed to travel the country until finally reaching Cape Town for an International Women’s Day rally on March 8.
Dubbed Vusa-ifizwe or On the Right Track, the train will also serve as a venue for interactive community conferences with over 70 delegates on issues ranging from violence against women to the reproductive and health rights of rural women and children.
Mbeki, who has headed South Africa’s inter-ministerial Aids committee since 1997, expressed concern, however, that not enough men have been drawn into Aids awareness and prevention campaigns, and pointed out that very few had bothered attending the train’s launch. Stressing that it is essential for women to feel safe enough to be open about the disease within their own homes, Mbeki called on men to become more actively involved in the struggle.
Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma added that rural women urgently need to begin networking to form support structures that lobby their male-dominated communities for better sexual and health rights. “We have to begin encouraging women to break the silence and raise society’s levels of awareness. We need to demystify the taboos, expose the violence and propagate the hard facts about the impact of HIV-Aids on women and children,” said Zuma.
Both Zuma and Mbeki stressed that women between the ages of 20 and 29 years are the hardest hit by the pandemic and therefore need to be targeted in any Aids campaigns. — African Eye News Service