One of various acronyms in health jargon, PLWHA, is meant to describe people living with HIV/Aids, but, according to the government, all South Africans in fact live with the virus.
”We are all living with HIV and Aids. Together we can live positively,” is one of the messages the Health Department is conveying with its new Khomanani campaign, launched in Pretoria on Tuesday.
Khomanani is a Tsonga word meaning caring for, or supporting, each other. Director-general of health Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba said the aim of the campaign was to re-emphasise how important it was to prevent the spread of the virus, but adding the need for care and support.
It was strongly action-orientated and most of its objectives were research-based, he said.
According to recent research, only seven percent of South Africans were helping children affected by HIV/Aids, but two-thirds of respondents are prepared to do so.
”There is a lot of latent sympathy and goodwill that should have a positive impact in our communities,” Ntsaluba said.
Indra de Lanerolle of the Aids Communication Team said: ”We are trying to tap into that. We are not trying to make saints of all South Africans. People don’t have to give up their jobs or turn their homes into orphanages.”
Seventy-eight percent of those who took part in the survey did not know of organisations in their community that assisted children affected by HIV/Aids, he said.
It is estimated that 2,5-million children will have lost at least one parent by the end of the decade.
De Lanerolle said it was believed that with a subcampaign dubbed ”Circles of Support” various levels of the community around affected children could be drawn in. A hotline — 0860-222-777 — was recently established which people could phone to find out how they could help.
It was staffed by members of the National Association of People Living With HIV/Aids (Napwa).
”Circles of Support” is one of six sub-campaigns under the Khomanani banner. De Lanerolle said a ”Positive Living” campaign was aimed at encouraging people with HIV/Aids to live positively, and to
increase their awareness that through doing so, the virus did not need to be a death sentence.
The stigma and discrimination associated with this disease were also being tackled.
Only about a quarter of respondents in the survey said they had gone for HIV tests, he said. Few had supported someone with Aids in any way, while 63% said they would be prepared to do so.
”But more than half would consider having an HIV test, and helping others, and having safer sex, if these activities were more accessible and easier to understand.”
De Lanerolle said 80% of people with HIV/Aids knew they could prolong their life or improve their quality of life, but their knowledge on how to do so was patchy.
The research had shown that half of 12- to 14-year-olds said they would not have a meal with a person with HIV/Aids, but three-quarters were prepared to stay friends with the person.
It also emerged that about two-thirds of 15 to 19-year-olds reported being sexually active.
The objectives of a sub-campaign entitled ”Youth — Our time, our choice, our future” included trying to delay sexual activity by teenagers up to 15 by at least a few years and to promote safer sex among those who were already having intercourse.
It was also aimed at discouraging teenagers from having sex with someone much older than them, and to prevent coercive, abusive and so-called transactional intercourse.
The ”Sexually Transmitted Infections” subcampaign was aimed at making people aware of the link between these diseases and HIV/Aids and of how important it was to seek prompt treatment and to notify sexual partners.
There was also a subcampaign to address the detection and cure rates of tuberculosis.
The Khomanani health worker excellence awards would be conferred on workers who have excelled in five different categories. This would happen in April 2003.
All the campaigns would run until August next year, De Lanerolle said.
Rentia Agenbag, deputy director in the health department, said the budget for Khomanani was R98-million over a two-year period.
Ntsaluba said: ”It is insignificant compared to the scale of the problem.” – Sapa