Charlene Smith
The government is delaying a number of studies into rape, HIV and the use of anti- retroviral drugs with the obstinate stance that researchers must have a control group of rape survivors who do not receive medication.
One proposed Johannesburg-based study with a $100-million grant from pharmaceutical companies would see free anti-retroviral treatment being given to rape survivors across South Africa for a year and would test the efficacy of anti-retrovirals from three manufacturers of anti-Aids drugs.
A second proposed Cape Town-based study, which would tap into funding from South African businesses already pledging support, is facing a similar roadblock from the Medicines Regulatory Authority and the Department of Health.
Minister of Health Dr Nkosazana Zuma has said she will not consider free anti- retroviral therapy for rape survivors without adequate research to back it. But she and her colleagues are blocking the proposed research (that could save the lives of many of the one million women and children raped each year), because they require a control group – victims of rape who do not receive treatment with anti- retroviral drugs.
However, doctors protest that there is adequate information in South African society to show that rape survivors are at high risk of HIV if they do not get anti- retroviral therapy immediately after the rape. They say that to refuse the medication to a control group is “tantamount to murder”.
“Which doctor will make that decision?” one doctor asked. “Doctors cannot exclude these very traumatised survivors from medication – they fought so hard to live and to survive the rape, what right do we have to deny them the right to life?”
Two weeks ago, a 22-year-old woman, a former prefect at a Johannesburg convent, was buried – she had contracted HIV after being gang-raped while still at school and died of Aids.
Television viewers were moved to tears recently by the story of a 75-year-old woman raped by a single perpetrator in an old-age home in Richards Bay. She contracted HIV as a result. A 21-year-old Pretoria woman contracted HIV last year after being gang-raped by five men.
Last week, the government released figures showing that the numbers of reported rapes were dropping, with around 49 000 occurring in 1998.
However, according to Mary Peel of the Honeydew police forum: “Although figures are dropping, the levels of violence in rape and other serious crimes have escalated dramatically.”
In one recent rape in the Honeydew precinct, a 46-year-old woman who lives alone was hit over the head with an iron bar, and raped repeatedly by six assailants, one of whom stamped on her ankle and almost broke it while another was raping her.
The men left the badly injured, bound woman after urinating over her walls, carpets, CDs and books. When she attempted to buy the anti-retroviral drugs AZT and 3TC from a pharmacy in Bromhof, she was charged R3 000 for a 28-day supply, which should cost no more than R1 760 retail with VAT, according to Glaxo Wellcome, the manufacturers.
In another instance, a Plettenberg Bay woman was charged R500 for the three-day starter kit of AZT and 3TC, which should cost no more than R171 – although Glaxo recently began distributing free starter kits to chemists and clinics.
According to the manufacturers, the three drugs necessary to reduce by 81% the risk of women contracting HIV should cost no more than R3 520,50, including VAT, when bought from doctors and chemists.
A 28-day supply of AZT should cost R619,38; of 3TC, R851,20; and of Crixivan, R2 049,92.
Dr Lynne Denney of Groote Schuur said 75% of rape cases dealt with by their rape unit were gang rapes. Groote Schuur hospital gives AZT free to rape survivors and has been for some time. Netcare, which has a cutting-edge rape care facility at Sunninghill in Sandton, is giving free AZT and 3TC starter kits to rape survivors.
Vodacom is establishing a rape crisis line with Radio 702 and Cape Talk similar to CellWatch to enable survivors to report rapes or obtain counselling.
Women who are raped in Port Elizabeth and Pietermaritzburg have some of the best rape crisis counselling centres in the country, but all in all it is better to be raped in one of the major metropolitan areas, where access to good medical care and counselling is available. Assistance to women who are raped in rural areas is almost non- existent.
The South African Medical Association has taken a decision to begin immediate work toward establishing a national rape protocol – the procedures for all health- care workers for women who have been raped, which can be used for later court cases. The association is also investigating ways to support district surgeons and establish ways to create better district surgeon’s offices.
In addition, a number of legal research organisations at universities and elsewhere are examining legislation with regard to rape laws to tie up loopholes – for example, the police refusal to test rapists and inform their victims of the rapist’s HIV status.
Senior legal officials have made it clear, however, that in terms of Section 37 of the Criminal Procedure Act, police officials are obliged to test all criminals, including rapists, because the blood results are critical less to the charge but to the sentence delivered.
“Until this law is scrapped, the constitutional right to privacy of the rapist does not override it and the victim should be informed of the result to ease her concerns,” a senior advocate said.
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