Govt: All talk, no action
2004-03-04 08:07
Johannesburg - Inaction, mixed messages and inadequate information are undermining South Africa's pledge to provide rape victims with Aids drugs, human rights activists charged on Thursday.
The country's exploding Aids epidemic has turned sexual assault into a death sentence, Human Rights Watch said in a new report. But many rape survivors find they still can't get anti-retroviral drugs that could protect them from HIV, the virus that causes Aids.
An estimated 5.3 million in South Africa - out of 45 million people -have the HIV virus: more than any other country in the world.
Rebecca Schleifer, who researched the report for New York-based Human Rights Watch, said government pledges to provide anti-HIV drugs to rape survivors face crucial challenges: "effective public education, clear political support and guaranteed access for children."
Without urgent government action, Schleifer said, "the dual epidemics of HIV/Aids and sexual violence will continue to claim the lives of too many South Africans."
Sexual violence has reached alarming levels in South Africa, particularly against children under 18 who represent an estimated 40% of rape survivors. In 2002, 52 107 rapes and attempted rapes were reported to police, the report said. The actual figure is believed to be much higher.
In April 2002, South Africa became one of the first African nations to pledge to provide the course of drugs known as post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP, to rape survivors.
Since then, however, the government has failed to provide adequate information or training about the programme to police, health workers, counsellors or rape survivors, the 73-page report said.
Many victims didn't get drugs
Many victims did not get the drugs because the agencies charged with assisting them did not know the programme existed.
In November, after years of pressure, the government approved a plan to provide free anti-retrovirals to all who need them within five years.
But the government's highly publicised resistance to providing the drugs through the health system left some health professionals confused, Human Rights Watch said.
Jo-Anne Collinge, speaking for the health department, acknowledged there were significant shortcomings in the government's response to sexual violence, including clearly communicating its policy on PEP.
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang plans to draw attention to some of these issues on International Women's Day on March 8, Collinge said.
Few African countries provide PEP for rape survivors, although it is a standard service in many other countries.
Charlene Smith, a journalist who campaigned for PEP access after she was raped at knifepoint in her own home, said she was initially heartened when the cabinet pledged to provide the drugs.
"It lied," she said. "That lie remains ... and people die because of it."
The plan approved by the government last November confirmed authorities' commitment to providing PEP and major investments were promised in upgrading the national health system.
Human Rights Watch praised these commitments, but said the country's shaky implementation of PEP raised doubts.
- AP