InterPress News Service (IPS) - Tuesday, 3 December 1996
Santos Virgilio

Dr. Marques Gomes, an epidemiologist with the National Programme for the fight against AIDS (PNLS), has accused the government of apathy regarding the disease. "There is absolutely no support from the government and I have never seen nor heard of any fund or budget from the Ministry of Health for the fight against AIDS."

He says any project undertaken by PNLS is funded by donors, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), Swedish International Development Authority, European Commission and OXFAM.

His sentiments are echoed by the executive director of the Angolan Association for the Fight Against AIDS (AALSIDA), Antonio Coelho, who has called on the government to urgently create a national commission on AIDS. He warns that, if the prevailing conditions and attitudes towards the disease continue, there will be two or three cases of AIDS in each family in the next five years.

"It is vital to involve leaders and public figures in the fight. We have been independent since 1975 and people have been talking about AIDS for the last 10 years, but we have never seen the president or the prime minister speaking about the disease or participating in a forum on AIDS -- people at the top are not setting any examples," he says.

Ignorance regarding the disease runs high. For most of society, AIDS continues to be a taboo subject. Coelho recalls a 28 year-old woman, who, along with her two children aged seven and nine, was thrown out of her home after her sisters discovered she was HIV positive.

"They feared that by keeping her in the house they would contract AIDS. These attitudes are the result of ignorance. The woman was taken to hospital where she was diagnosed as having pulmonary tuberculosis and hospitalized. The children, who do not have the disease, were sent to a centre for street children. This is the most that an NGO can do," he says.

"AIDS is not yet a priority area with the Angolan government. Perhaps due to the military, political and socio-economic problems, what is being done on information and education is the work of

Angolan NGOs, with the support of international organizations," says A. Sapalo, executive director of the Action Group Against AIDS (GASIDA). He claims the government "has not yet defined a programme, and it has never given even a single dollar towards the fight against AIDS".

Angola was protected against AIDS by the prolonged civil war, which kept borders tightly closed with minimal interregional trade. In 1991, the signing of the Bicesse Peace Accord, resulted in the opening of the borders and roads, allowing for the rampant spread of the disease. This was halted again in 1993 by renewed war that sealed the country and disrupted the economy. The borders were only reopened and trade resumed gradually in 1995, after the United Nations posted a 7,000 strong peace-keeping force.

Available statistics from PNLS indicates a steady rise in the number of AIDS cases. From 1986 to 1990 the Health Ministry reported 301 cases. In 1992, a total of 141 cases were reported while in 1995 there were 321 cases registered.

However, experts say this is nowhere near the real situation. Because of war and the lack of working health structures, health data in Angola is scarce and patchy. Existing data on AIDS relate to the zone under government administration, roughly half of the country. It does not include the soldiers, or the UNITA-controlled areas.

Dr Gomes estimates there are about 10,000 cases, judging from the infection rates of neighboring countries. "We do not have data on soldiers, who constitute a quarter of the cases, and we have a deficient information network. The reported cases are not from the whole country, but from the towns only," he says.

For the victims, the lack of a solid programme to fight the disease causes problems. J.K.B. (22), a clerk, was furious when, following the death of her fiance apparently of AIDS, she discovered she was HIV positive.

"Initially I had only one wish and that was to die. But afterwards I thought it over and realized that I was not to blame for anything... so I did not want to die alone. Despair and anger made me sleep with anyone I met," she recalls.

How many people does she think she infected? She does not know. It was only when she faced death threats from two of her partners, who subsequently contracted the disease, that she turned to AALSIDA for help. Today she is remorseful that she infected others and says she wants to devote her remaining life towards helping other HIV positive people cope with the traumas of the disease.

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