LUSAKA, ZAMBIA -- Hundreds of local organizations, government ministries, private companies and individuals colored the North Great Road in Lusaka yesterday with messages of awareness and hope in honor of World AIDS Day.
Many marched with banners memorializing lost loved ones. Others sang songs of celebration and solidarity.
But behind the memories and positive messages, many others gathered to express their frustration over promises for better access to treatment, care and support that have gone unmet. They picketed with signs that questioned a global misappropriation of AIDS funds and decried the lack of support and care HIV positive Zambians receive from the government and local organizations.
For Paul Kasonkomona, a local HIV activist, World AIDS Day is not a time to celebrate. For him, it is a day to remember the struggle for rights and treatment millions of people living with HIV/AIDS still face.
“This is not a day for celebration,” echoes Chizola Daka, an HIV positive Zambian. “Drugs for HIV and TB are difficult to find in clinics. Global funds have been mismanaged and used by the top leaders who receive these funds,” Daka says, relaying a common criticism that global funds intended for HIV positive people and grassroots organizations are often misused thanks to corruption at the local and national levels.
In Zambia, one in every seven adults is living with AIDS. The national life expectancy is now just 39 years old. According to Avert HIV/AIDS Zambia, an international advocacy organization, there are 200 new infections every day here. But an estimated 80 percent of the population still does not know their HIV status, so all current statistics could be meaningless. So for many, the focus of yesterday’s event was on decreasing stigma and increasing testing facilities.
Still, advocates argue that Zambia is making progress, despite the fact it has the seventh highest prevalence rate of AIDS in the world. But more than 14 percent of the HIV positive population, both adults and children, are now taking antiretroviral medications, ARVs, thanks to a government program that provides the drugs for free. Harrison Mwima of the Treatment Advocacy Campaign says this is an improvement.
Despite the free ARVs being accessed by some, Patrick of Alikeni Anene, a local support group, says the majority of HIV positive people here are unemployed and live in extreme poverty. The Central Statistical Office in Lusaka reports that approximately 67 percent of Zambian households live far below the poverty line. Patrick, who spoke on the condition of not using his last name, says his support group has written a number of project proposals seeking funds to assist with living and care expenses for people living with AIDS but has not yet received funding. According to the World Health Organization, poverty and lack of food are inhibitors to proper AIDS treatment, as ARVs cannot be taken on an empty stomach.
“Access to treatment, care and support can only be human rights if our leaders give us support and drugs that can be accessed by all,” Daka said as he joined the masses at the World AIDS Day venue.
