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   Top   »   Information and Statistics    »   AIDS in Ingwavuma
 
Statistics
South Africa has the greatest number of people living with the virus in the world - 6.3 million - and KwaZuluNatal is the worst affected province with a 40.7% antenatal infection rate in 2004. See here for more detailed statistics. One can quote many statistics about HIV and AIDS to shock onlookers, but what does it actually mean for those of us who live in the epidemic?
 
Realities
Everybody knows somebody or many people who have died young - there is still quite a bit of stigma around so people will not often openly say that they died of AIDS. AIDS infects all classes of society from the richest to the poorest. Even those educated in western medicine may first turn to traditional healers rather than face the truth about their diagnosis and die rather than admit they need ARVs.

Most people go to funerals on Saturdays. If there is a funeral in the neighborhood, one is not allowed to carry on with work e.g. building, gardening until the funeral is over. If families can afford it, they spend a lot of money on funerals and this partly because of the belief in ancestors looking over the family and the need to respect them. However, it leaves less money for those left behind and many end up in debt. As a result, most relatives are buried in the homestead rather than at a cemetery and it is not uncommon to see 5 or more graves in the yard.

The youngest children of parents who are dying of AIDS often get neglected emotionally and physically as the focus is on caring for their parents. Some of them are positive themselves and die around the same time that their parents do. The damage of a lost generation to the next generation is incalculable and its effects are not yet fully met.

 
ARVs
  • Antiretroviral treatment (ARV) is available through the government hospital for free. However it is only reaching a fraction of the people who need it as many are too sick or poor to travel to the clinics for treatment or do not have the required identity documents.
  • While we have seen many cases of bed-ridden patients coming back to life on ARVs, there is still suspicion in the community about whether they are safe as a small percentage of people do die of side effects or starting too late and the government is failing to present the drugs in a highly positive light.
  • Those who are sick enough to qualify for ARVs are also able to get a disability grant. This is often used to provide food for the whole family. When the person starts to recover from AIDS, the grant is stopped and the patient and family return to hunger and poverty. People at support groups debate whether they should default treatment in order to get the grant again. This is a serious concern as it could lead to the drugs becoming ineffective.
  • Foster care grants for orphans sometimes turn these children into a commodity with relatives fighting for custody so that they can get the grant. A grant for one child is a lot more than many families have to live off- it is poverty and desperation rather than greed that leads to this situation. Non-orphaned children or those with one parent are not entitled to this grant even though they may be even worse of economically.
© Ingwavuma Orphan Care 2006