Zimbabwe: Give MPs Information on HIV. 2/4/10

Obviously quarantining HIV and Aids patients is out of the question and impractical anywhere, but the fact that there are some who still view it as a solution shows that there is still work to be done to remove the stigma associated with the disease.

Harare — The HIV and Aids pandemic has ravaged the country and many others in sub-Saharan Africa causing untold damage to the socio-economic lives of Africa's populations.

Many breadwinners, bright brains and others who had the potential to lead the country's development efforts have lost their lives and continue to do so to the detriment of the country's development.

So much has been written and continues to be written about the pandemic but it is surprising that there is still some level of ignorance or maybe mild knowledge on the subject despite all the efforts that have been made by both the Government and individuals.

It has had such adverse effects on the country that it has been described as a national emergency to improve mobilisation of resources to fight it.

On Monday, the Senate's Thematic Committee on HIV and Aids visited Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospitals and Harare Central Hospital to familiarise itself with the rollout programme of anti-retrovirals.

It was during that tour that some of the senators asked questions that in my view indicate that there is still a lot of work to be done to increase knowledge of the disease among the country's people and leaders.

Some asked whether it was not possible to quarantine HIV and Aids patients, whether there was a link between malaria and HIV and whether it was not possible to establish a nationwide hospital to cater for tuberculosis patients.

These questions, to me, showed that a lot still has to be done to fully make people appreciate the dynamics of the HIV and Aids pandemic.

Obviously quarantining HIV and Aids patients is out of the question and impractical anywhere, but the fact that there are some who still view it as a solution shows that there is still work to be done to remove the stigma associated with the disease.

There is also a lot of work to be done especially on educating our policymakers on the disease to ensure that the information cascades to the grassroots. This is because the legislators represent millions of people and as opinion leaders in their communities they have to be knowledgeable.

The spread of the disease, like some have argued, has been exacerbated by stigma where some people have resolved not to go for voluntary testing in fear of rejection by their communities.

Everyday new information on the disease is coming up and therefore it is important that the effort that has been made so far be maintained so that the battle against HIV is not lost.

Some of the issues raised by the legislators include whether there is a direct link between HIV and Aids.

The general response was that because the HIV virus weakens the immune system one becomes susceptible to diseases and infections although there is no direct relationship between the two.

Others also wanted to know whether it was possible to have medical facilities that are exclusively for TB since it is one infection that tends to affect HIV and Aids patients.

I don't know how practical that is but again there is fear of increasing stigma and discrimination.

The country has made tremendous efforts to reduce the prevalence of HIV from as high as 34 percent to about 13 percent. We can do better if more information is disseminated.

Constitution-making process

Turning to other matters, the UNDP is reported to have come up with a new set of conditions before the disbursement of funds for the constitution-making process.

That is one of the major problems of depending on donor funding for programmes of national importance.

The constitution, as I have said before, is a major national programme that should be mainly funded internally.

The interest in this country is high at the moment and anyone given the opportunity wants to "contribute" to the processes going on here. This, for example, is shown by the demand from some quarters -- including the MDC-T -- that gay rights are protected in the constitution.

This is the danger if foreigners are allowed to have too much say in the constitution-making process.

Therefore, if we cannot mobilise the funding on our own then I propose that the process be shelved until the resources are available or better still find another alternative to proceed with the process.

One way could be to use all material that has been written before on the constitution and maybe convene a conference of all political parties and then produce a draft that would be put to a referendum.

The country has no money to go ahead with the programme on its own and at the same time the donors want to provide their funds if their own conditions and terms are met, which is unacceptable. The constitution is there to guarantee and protect our interests.

The outreach programme has been scheduled to commence on April 10 but given this scarcity of resources, it remains to be seen whether or not it will take off.

On other matters, the Salary Service Bureau said Government departments were responsible for ghost workers that have been accused of milking the fiscus.

Once upon a time the Ministry of Public Service embarked on an audit to purportedly rid the civil service of such people and eventually lead to the improvement of Government workers' conditions.

Since February, nothing much has been said on what was the outcome of the exercise.

Hopefully, it was not one of those exercises that lined the pockets of some individuals at a great cost with nothing tangible to be realised out of it to benefit the nation.

Dairy Industry

Government should urgently assist the dairy industry if the sector is to be saved from imminent collapse.

The country's major dairy products producer told the Committee on Industry and Commerce that the company was operating at 25 percent capacity because of a myriad of challenges.

The company has even suspended operations at its cheese manufacturing plant in Kadoma due to the non-availability of milk.

At one time that plant was one of the largest cheese producers in the Sadc region.

This shows that the country is losing out on another source of revenue that could benefit the nation's coffers.

Government must urgently look into this area and those who inherited dairy farms under the land reform programme should be assisted to ensure that the sector does not collapse.

One way of reviving the sector is to identify a selected number of farmers that would be assisted over maybe a three-year period to ensure that they are adequately equipped. If such a programme is implemented over a 20-year period then we may save the sector.

Given the capital-intensive nature of dairy farming the newly resettled farmers will not succeed or will turn to other farming ventures that do not require as much capital if they are not provided with any support.

This, in turn, will lead to the collapse of the local industry and threaten the livelihoods of thousands of people.