Inter Press Service - October 17, 2000
Lewis Machipisa

In a society where those infected with HIV or AIDS tend to keep their illness unknown, Catherine Phiri's bold decision to go public about her HIV positive status in 1990 has helped in reducing stigma attached to the disease.

Phiri, a 38 year-old mother of two, is lucky in that she lived to see the fruits of her fearless decision. Gugu Dhlamini, a South African AIDS activist was not so lucky. Gugu was beaten to death after she disclosed that she was HIV-positive on radio and television in 1998.

Many more such cases go unreported and HIV positive people continue to live in secrecy, doomed to early death.

But 10 years later, Phiri is happy that she took the right decision by going public. HIV/AIDS has since become the leading cause of death among people between the ages of 15 to 49 and 25 percent of the urban workforce is likely to die from AIDS by 2010.

Phiri was among the first people in Malawi to go public about being HIV positive. At first she faced frustrations and the pain of discrimination in the workplace. She resigned from the job she had held for 10 years as a government hospital nurse soon after being diagonised.

In 1994 she decided to turn that adversity into an advantage and founded the Salima HIV-AIDS Support Organisation (SASO), in a remote lake shore district, about 70 km east of Malawi's capital, Lilongwe.

After so much denial about the existence of the disease, Catherine sought to give a human face and voice to those who have suffered under the veil of silence.

Since then seven people have come out into the open. Her organisation now supports 1.500 HIV/AIDS orphans in Malawi and helps in raising awareness on Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs).

For her courage and hard work, Phiri is among this year's winners of the UNDP's Fourth Annual Race Against Poverty awards, which seeks to mobilise support for the goal of poverty eradication around the world. This year's theme is "Breaking the Silence on HIV/AIDS"

According to the UNDP, Phiri was chosen for making a difference in the fight against poverty and its underlying causes, specifically HIV/AIDS. Other winners include Marie Bopp Dupont (French Polynesia), Rita Arauz Molina (Nicaragua) and Father Arkadiusz Nowak of Poland.

In a regional telephone press conference Tuesday, Phiri told journalists from Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe that while the media had done a lot to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS, there is room for more.

"The media should continue to be vocal in bringing the disease to the centre of development. They should help in the fight against the silence and ignorance," Phiri said.

As a result of her coming public, Phiri said she no longer faces the stigma that she first faced.

Over then next decade, the UN warns, AIDS will kill more people in sub-Saharan Africa than all the wars of the 20th century. But political urgency to combat the disease remains missing from much of Africa.

"The problem of HIV/AIDS continues to be the biggest developmental challenge facing sub-Saharan Africa," said Abdoulie Janneh, regional director fo UNDP-Africa who also took part in the tele-press conference from New York.

"The press has a crucial role in this fight," said Janneh. He was hopeful that leaders would give the disease the importance it deserves judging by the commitments that made at the Millennium Summit held in New York in September.

But at an international AIDS conference in Lusaka, Zambia, held in September last year, not a single African president attended the International Conference on STDs and AIDS (ICASA).

Even host president Frederick Chiluba failed to attend the opening session of the conference.

But HIV/AIDS is wrecking havoc. Less than 20 years since AIDS was first recognised, the United Nations describes it as the worst infectious disease catastrophe since the bubonic plague.

HIV infects more than 14.000 more sub-Saharan Africans everyday. But the world has still not faced up to the crisis and adequately fund the response.

The World Bank says that between one billion US dollars and 2.3 billion US dollars is needed annually for prevention alone in Africa, but official assistance for AIDS is something in the region of 160 million US dollars.

But the situation is horrific in other countries. More than 23 million Africans are estimated to be infected with HIV Since the pandemic began. 50 million people worldwide have been infected with HIV, of whom 16 million people have died.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, 55 percent of infected adults are female. UNAIDS estimates that 12.2 million African women and 10.1 million African men aged 15 to 49 are living with HIV.

The UN's analysis suggests that, because of AIDS, by 2005 the gross domestic product (GDP) of most southern African countries will have shrunk by at least 14 percent. Per capita income will drop 10 percent. Labour costs are rising due to morbidity and absenteeism, and training new workers brings an added burden.

Away from the political lerthagy, the UNDP has taken a leadership role on HIV/AIDS. In 55 developing countries, UNDP advisers are helping develp national strategic HIV/AIDS plans that bring together local and national government leaders and civil society and incorporate community-driven priorities.

In Malawi, the UNDP in 1999 helped bring together local and national and civil society groups to design a strategic response to HIV/AIDS.

UNDP then worked with the Malawi government to organise a donor round table, which raised 110 million US dollars of the 121 dollars needed to implement the plan.

Another initiative by the UNDP is the Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDS in Africa in which officials from 70 municipalities in 17 countries are working together with community leaders to identify areas where assistance is needed.

001017
IP001007

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2000. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2000. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .