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Nurses back opposition to AIDS levy

    JOHANNESBURG

    A nurses’ organisation has backed the trade unions that are refusing to accept government's plan for a civil service HIV/AIDS levy.

    The government is planning to introduce a levy of about US $4 per month on civil servants. One of the programmes government wants to fund through the levy is an HIV/AIDS education and counselling programme for civil servants.

    "Civil servants can get counselling free of charge at state hospitals, so these unions are correct in refusing to pay for a service that should be the right of every employee," executive director of the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA), Thembeka Gwagwa, told the UN news service PlusNews.

    Gwagwa agreed with civil service trade unions that the proposed levy was too high for lower paid government workers.

    The government hopes to raise around US $93 million a year through the levy, but the unions are concerned about how the money will be spent.

    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

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