Weekend round-up
With the Boks’ big World Cup semifinal game and the ongoing Mbeki-Selebi-Pikoli saga grabbing most of the big headlines this weekend, there wasn’t too much on the HIV/AIDS front, but here are a handful of stories from the country’s major weekend reads.
"Mob stones to death man accused of killing HIV-positive son and girlfriend"
City Press - 14 October 2007
This short article of only a few hundred words is troubling on many fronts, but it highlights the important point that HIV stigma is still prevalent, and that disclosing one’s positive status can have violent repercussions. The article concludes with an interesting quotation from the Mpumalanga provincial coordinator for the Treatment Action Campaign; he says: "I blame the people who gave the woman the ARVs, because it seems they didn’t give her the proper support as to how to disclose the information to her partner or family." Granted, the now-deceased woman in question may not have been counseled on how to appropriately disclose her status to her family, but the burden of this task and its unfortunate outcome should not be placed entirely on her. The larger community itself must also play a role to de-stigmatize this disease in the public consciousness. While one would never condone vigilante justice, perhaps that’s exactly what certain members — those engaged in the stoning of the man — of this community were trying to do when they committed this violent act.
"HIV vaccine ‘not just a scientific challenge’ "
The Star - 12 October 2007
In this short article, which announces that Dr. Alan Bernstein has been appointed as the first executive director of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, little of substance is actually said about HIV vaccines. "We need some new ideas," Bernstein said, but he does not elaborate any further. It is noteworthy that this announcement took place in Cape Town , South Africa , because of the high prevalence rates here, which Bernstein acknowledged makes SA "unfortunately" a good host country for vaccine trials.
" ‘What’s sex work, Mommy?’ " and "Lessons in prostitution slated"
Weekend Argus and Saturday Star - 13 October 2007
This story, which appeared in both the Saturday Star and the Weekend Argus (and likely several other of Independent Newspapers’ Saturday papers), describes the outrage of parents, researchers and child psychologists over the content of a Grade 5 textbook entitled "My Clever Natural Sciences Through Issues." Nobody at the HIV/AIDS and the Media Project has seen the textbook, so it’s difficult for any of us to comment on it directly, but it seems, from the comments made in the article, that the criticism of the text is wholly justified. As the article relates, the text provides a grossly oversimplified, inaccurate, paranoid, fearsome and generally age-inappropriate story about a sex worker who contracts HIV. So, we know for sure how not to teach children about HIV/AIDS, but then how should we be teaching them? Hopefully this embarrassing gaffe on the part of the ministry of education will open up a meaningful debate about HIV/AIDS education at the primary school level, and hopefully HIV/AIDS activists and educators can work together to come up with a worthwhile educational project on this issue.
"Kilimanjaro: a new beginning"
Sunday Times - 14 October 2007
In this week’s "Everyone Knows Someone" feature of the Sunday Times’ News and Opinion section, Claire Keeton tells the story of Phindile Madonsela, who was raped at the age of 16, discovered her HIV-positive status 10 years later while trying to give blood, and this year, at the age of 36, climbed to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. But the most interesting parts of her story happen well before the triumphant climb - when she publicly disclosed her HIV status in 1997. Her story is a typical one in which she faces stigma and ignorance from friends, family and her community. But she persevered through it, became an activist along the way and set out to educate as many people as she could.
"At last I’ve broached the taboo subject"
Sunday Times - 14 October 2007
The second story in the Sunday Times’ "Everyone Knows Someone" feature is a simple, but valuable story about an average person - in this case, author Simphiwe Piliso - and his day-to-day encounters with the topic of HIV/AIDS. Piliso makes the important point that even if you yourself are not infected, and even if none of your immediate friends or family are, you can still play an active role in fighting the virus by talking about it with other people.
By Brendan Kennedy