Durban - People who suffered discrimination because of their HIV status would now be able to call on state-funded lawyers to fight their cause.
This was announced by deputy health minister Dr Joe Phaahla at the SA Aids conference at the Durban ICC on Tuesday. He was speaking at the launch of the SA National Aids Council (Sanac) Stigma Index, which details the nature, extent and depth of stigma affecting people with HIV and TB.
Phaahla said this service would be offered through the nationwide network of Justice Centres run by Legal Aid SA. Paralegals and civil litigation specialists were to be trained to respond to HIV/TB-related discrimination.
He said people were afraid of being ostracised, believing this to be worse than living with HIV.
“We have always known about the stigma but we didn’t know the extent of the challenge,” Phaahla said.
This was echoed by US ambassador, Patrick Gaspard, speaking at the opening ceremony. “We want South Africans to test regularly for HIV, and, if HIV-positive, to receive the highest quality of care and treatment services, without facing stigma or discrimination, and to adhere to that treatment to reach viral suppression,” Gaspard said.
Sanac chief executive, Dr Fareed Abdullah, said this stigma index was the largest of 50 in the world with more than 10 000 HIV-positive people surveyed.
It was conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council on behalf of Sanac in 18 districts across all provinces and involved organisations such as the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), the National Association of People Living with Aids (Napwa), and the Positive Women’s Network.
In KZN participants in uMgungundlovu and uMkhanyakude districts were surveyed and were found to experience the highest level of stigma.
The index found that almost 90 percent disclosed their HIV status to their spouse or partners. “South Africans are sharing information with partners, which is a huge leap forward and shows that we are opening up when it comes to HIV,” said Abdullah.
However, of concern was that more than 40 percent of participants said they suffered “internalised” stigma.
“This is a sense of shame and inferiority that often results in the affected individual withdrawing from society and refusing opportunities to live a full life and achieve his or her potential. It is particularly worrying that 11 percent of those interviewed said they had experienced suicidal feelings.”
* Stigma cost Gugu Dlamini her life. The KwaMashu resident was stoned and beaten to death by men for openly declaring her status in 1998.
Dlamini’s daughter, Mandisa, who witnessed the murder when she was 12, accompanied a delegation – including the Sanac chairman and deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, KZN Premier Senzo Mchunu and eThekwini mayor James Nxumalo – to a park named after her mother in the Durban CBD.
Daily News