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South Africa's National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAPWA) on Monday continued a fasting protest outside the Johannesburg offices of a drug multinational as part of its 'Black Christmas' campaign.
NAPWA spokesman Thanduxolo Doro said the volunteers, many of whom are HIV-positive, started the protest outside GlaxoSmithKline offices on Christmas Day and would stay there until New Year's Day.
"Three volunteers have already taken ill and a doctor had to be called out to examine them," Doro told PlusNews.
Doro said NAPWA called on multinational pharmaceutical companies like GlaxoSmithKline to make antiretroviral drugs freely available in South Africa.
"Even though the company director was available telephonically, she would not respond to our demands," Doro added.
NAPWA said its list of demands also urged government to pass a law that would force financial institutions to stop discriminating against people living with HIV/AIDS.
The group said it held several smaller protests outside banks and other financial institutions in support of similar demands ahead of Christmas.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions