Clinton urges South Africans to drop stigma
2009-08-08 10:28
Cullinan - With cameras rolling and one of the world's most powerful women at his side, Kgosi Kwos Mphahlele for a moment almost felt glad that he is HIV positive.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday toured a US-backed clinic in this small South African town as she appealed for an end to the stigma around Aids in a nation where nearly six million people are HIV-positive.
Mphahlele, a municipal worker who sought treatment at the clinic, told Clinton that when he learned in February 2007 that he contracted HIV, he felt "ashamed" as he was always respected in the community.
"But here I am, standing in front of the world, saying I'm HIV positive," said Mphahlele, confidently sporting a green coat.
He said he felt "blessed" to stand next to Clinton.
"HIV has done a great job for me. I thank my HIV," he said to roaring laughter from Clinton and other senior US officials on a visit to the former diamond-mining town 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of Johannesburg.
Clinton, who is on a seven-nation tour of Africa to build alliances and highlight development issues, also met with new health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi.
Clinton indicated she welcomed a change in South Africa's approach under President Jacob Zuma.
Former president Thabo Mbeki provoked worldwide criticism by expressing doubts that HIV led to Aids and supporting a controversial former health minister who advocated eating vegetables above taking lifesaving drugs.
"We have to make up for some lost time. But we are looking forward," Clinton said.
But she turned the microphone to the patients, saying that their message was more pertinent.
Stigma killing communities
As ordinary life buzzed around the town, with residents riding bicycles and a car alarm ringing in the distance, clinic patient Simangele Ncube told a moved Clinton that she has learned to take pride in herself.
"Sometimes you may say - I am HIV positive, it's the end of the world. It's not -- I can still look beautiful in front of you," said Ncube, wearing a shiny gold gown and holding a designer-style handbag.
"What is killing our community is stigma," she said. "No one is going to stigmatise me."
"If you stigmatise me, I'll say, I know my status, I look after myself, I'm taking my medications - what about yourself?"
But activists, while welcoming Clinton's attention to Aids, say that much more needs to be done.
Paula Akugizibwe, the treatment literacy coordinator for the Aids Rights Alliance for Southern Africa, said that the United States and other rich nations needed to step up funding.
She said patients seeking treatment were being turned away in South Africa and other African nations such as Uganda for lack of resources.
"It's good that Clinton is coming here and getting in touch with the realities on the ground. But the bottom line is that if you don't have money, you can't do treatment and you can't do prevention," Akugizibwe told AFP.
US funding
Officials said the clinic which Clinton visited has treated 1 000 patients since opening in 2006. It was funded by South Africa along with a $575 000 grant from the US government.
Former US president George W Bush in 2003 launched the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, or PEPFAR, which committed $15bn to fight the disease in the developing world.
With even many of Bush's sharpest critics praising the initiative, President Barack Obama as a candidate pledged to pump in another billion dollars a year.
But with the global economic crisis hitting hard, Obama's first budget proposed less than half that, raising protests among Aids activists.
Congresswoman Nita Lowry, who joined Clinton on the visit and heads the House subcommittee that funds US operations overseas, said while she hoped to increase funding "we have to use every dollar efficiently."
- AFP