“We need the G8’s help in the fight against poverty and HIV”

Zinhle Mapumulo

I think South Africa is in denial. This applies to me too.

South African AIDS activist

When I heard there was a village in the North West Province where almost every household is affected by HIV and AIDS I thought “yeah, sure, it can’t be that bad”.

But it was – and is. I’ll be writing more about that in my next blog.

There’s been a fair amount of coverage about the South African government downplaying the HIV epidemic. But it’s not just HIV, it’s poverty in the country in general.

Urban dwellers like me don’t think that media reporting of ‘poverty-stricken’ Africa applies to Johannesburg, Durban or Cape Town – the cosmopolitan cities we call home.

So when I was asked to canvass opinion on my fellow South Africans’ expectations of the G8 Summit, I was surprised to find that this denial isn’t universal...

My cousin lives in a rural part of KwaZulu-Natal – one of the regions hardest hit by both HIV and poverty. She’s well informed about the Africa agenda of this year’s G8, and hopes the Summit will bring some sort of relief to poverty-stricken communities in South Africa, especially those with high prevalence of HIV/AIDS.

Although I was surprised that she knew all about the G8 summit, it made me proud both as a South African and as her cousin to hear her say this.

Personally, I’m waiting to hear exactly how much the G8 countries are planning to donate towards African development and how this money will be utilised by the National Aids Unit, the government body that coordinates donations towards fighting HIV. Then again, the G8 has made promises before and hasn’t necessarily delivered on them.

That’s the view of Ntombikayise Sithole, a health worker and volunteer at a home-based care centre in Mpumalanga, one of the country’s poorest provinces. She says: “During the G8 Summit in 2005, G8 countries promised to donate billions in the fight against poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa. Some of that money was never given to the relevant countries.” She feels that the G8 is merely paying Africa lip service.

“Several countries were blamed for the shortfall but nothing happened afterwards,” she continues. “I am hoping as an African and person who witnesses what the HIV pandemic does to the nation on a daily basis that the outcomes of the 2007 Summit will prosper. We need the G8’s help in the fight against poverty and HIV in Africa.”

Comments

[Metsehate]

It is good news that African voices are coming out. I thank you all who are making this true.
Yes! Africa needs G8s support to fight against HIV/AIDS and povery. We need also to know how this money will be utilized by national government units. But I, as an Africa, would like to know also what will be the involvement of African civil socity in utilizing this money.
How this money will be utilized in adressing African women's problems. As a matter of fact many are raped daily, don't have right to decide on their body, not able to read and write and are not able to get adequate information many are claiming that HIV/AIDS is feminised.
But the responses fail usually to address this. For instance my country Ethiopia is preparing a plan of action for the national response to HIV/AIDS (2007-2009/10). But very very few things has been said about women and was commented aggressively.
So as a woman I demand my national government and the G8 to make their efforts more sensitive and responsive to women specififc problems
We demand to know explicitly what proportion of AID is meant for solving women specific problems.
Poor African women are suffering with their inocent children and won't wait any more.

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Zihnle,

Today I've read your wonderful post written for the OpenDemocracy blog project (Women talk to the G8) that is titled "Who is really listening to African women's voices?" It is an excellent piece of journalism and drives right to the heart of what is going on around you at the Circus Maximus 2007 in Heiligendamm. I just stopped by to say that don't worry Ma'am, some of the most influential writers in the blogosphere are following your work at the G8 Summit 2007 and we are listening to your voices (AfricaVox 2007) and spreading the word to our readers. Keep your head up over there and keep digging for the hard news at this summit, we'll do the rest.

You may want to ask one of your colleagues from Germany's ZDF TV news network for a copy of the videotape of the mini-summit held today for the J8 2007 youth (Junior G8+1 leaders). All attending G8 heads of state were one-on-one with the world's youth and discussed the subject of HIV/AIDS at length. Africa was represented by a 17-year old young man from Tanzania, who directed his questioning at the President of the United States but several G8 leaders responded including Japan and Russia. Get a copy of that videotape and check it out.

You can see more of my feedback to the AfricaVox 2007 project at Richard Kavuma's posts and at my blog. Good luck in Rostock.

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Ooops! I went back to re-read that post at the Women's Open Summit blog and realized that you didn't write the article but the aricle is about you and the other members of the AfricaVox 2007 crew. Sorry about the error and I wrote about your work anyway. Again, good luck and keep writing.