HIV/AIDS lobby group ends hunger strike

It was a bleak holiday season for South Africa's National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAPWA), as 14 of its members went on hunger strike calling for the uniform allocation of welfare grants and access to treatment.

The fast ended on Monday, after the government urged the protestors to call off the second phase of the strike. The strike - the original phase of which ended last week - was part of the group's "Black Christmas" campaign that also demanded that banks and insurance companies stop discriminating against HIV-positive people.

"It feels like a war situation and the soldiers have been given instructions to ceasefire," NAPWA national director Nkululeko Nxesi, told PlusNews.

Nxesi, who continued fasting after the initial 1 January deadline, experienced a severe throat infection and stomach cramps during the strike. He looked physically drained, like a man who had emerged from the trenches.

But he insisted that the campaign had done some good. Extensive media coverage had meant the public had been made aware that "most PWAs have no access to basic food and treatment and are being denied their basic human rights," he said.

The government has also responded. Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang agreed to facilitate meetings between government departments and NAPWA to develop a common policy for social grants and to ensure that PWAs are integrated into the existing welfare system. The health department will also arrange for NAPWA to meet drug manufacturers, insurance companies and banks.

According to Nxesi, social grants for PWAs had so far been administered in a "scattered" fashion. Some provinces only provide assistance if a PWA was terminally ill. There are, however, no set criteria to determine this, he added.

Department of Social Development spokesman Mbulelo Musi agreed there was a need for a "comprehensive programme". While all provinces should provide assistance to PWAs, most have not done so because of a lack of clear guidelines. But he cautioned against using "dangerous" means to address the problem.

"Its unfortunate that NAPWA went on strike because we [the social development department] have identified this problem and are dealing with it ... why take the route of dying when we could have worked together alive," he added.

Despite verbal assurances from the government that poverty alleviation for PWAs was a priority area this year, NAPWA would like to see this in "black and white", Nxesi insisted.

The private sector had, however, displayed a "high level of arrogance," he added. The protest started outside GlaxoSmithKline offices in Johannesburg, but the drug company only said that it would only respond before the 20 January.

"Our fasting was a voluntary decision. But people in this country are experiencing this on a daily basis - involuntarily. The NAPWA campaign has tried to mirror the reality of PWAs living without access to food and treatment," Nxesi said.