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Three members of South Africa's National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAPWA) on Monday ended the second phase of their 12-day fasting protest outside the Johannesburg offices of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturer's Association (PMA).
"Only the fasting has been stopped but protest action against pharmaceutical companies, financial institutions and the insurance industry still continues," NAPWA director Nkululeko Nxesi told the UN news service PlusNews.
The original hunger strike outside multinational pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline ended on New Year's day, but the three NAPWA members began the second phase of the strike that same evening.
Nxesi said the Department of Social Development has urged the protestors to call off the second stage of the strike and to join government in discussions to draw up a "policy" on HIV/AIDS.
"Our action may sound extreme but only mirrors what many HIV-positive South Africans are experiencing on a daily basis ... we can stop whenever we want to, but those people have no choice but to endure the suffering," Nxesi said.
Nxesi said GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to hold talks with NAPWA on 20 January, but the PMA had ignored the group's action.
Nxesi added that group members are to meet at NAPWA headquarters in Johannesburg to discuss protest action against companies that have not yet responded.
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