MASVINGO-As Zimbabwe joined the rest of the world in commemorating the international World AIDS day on Monday, HIV positive patients have attacked the Mugabe regime for being insensitive to their plight.
Independent health statistics reveal that more than 25 million people have been killed by AIDS, while an estimated 33; 2 million are living with the disease.
But the government plays down the figures.
In his state of the nation address on the eve of the World AIDS day last Sunday, President Mugabe was in a state of denialism over the pandemic, claiming that the country had scored successes in dealing with the disease.
“I am proud that the country has scaled down the rate of infection in the past three years, from 35 percent in 2006, to half the figure this year,” Mugabe told the state media.
But independent health officials and the people living with the disease say that is not the real situation on the ground.
The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH), a local pressure group based in the capital Harare, said in a press release last Friday that the 15,6 percent prevalence rate is ‘still too high’.
“We are convinced that the 15,6percent is still too high. It represents a breadwinner, parent or leader. As a community centered network, we condemn firmly all the insensitive, retrogressive and irresponsible acts such as the pre-and post-election violence, which disrupted HIV and AIDS related programming in 2008,” said CWGH in a statement.
Following the country’s harmonized elections on March 29 this year, which gave the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) a landmark victory over Mugabe, all humanitarian organizations were banned by the government, after being accused of campaigning for the MDC.
CWGH urged government to scale up the ARV roll-out programme, as well as the rebuilding of health sector and the economy so that citizens can enjoy their basic fundamental right to health.
Elvin Mavhundu, director of Ambassadors Plus, a post test support centre in the city, said President Mugabe is intolerant to the HIV positive.
Mavhundu, also an HIV patient, said the current economic crunch had hit hardest on AIDS patients, with the government doing nothing to alleviate their problems.
“The government pretends to be sensitive to our needs. Look at the paltry minimum cash withdrawal, currently at $500 000, insufficient to buy a loaf of bread. Tell me; how we would be able to pay for our drugs, nutritional support and health care. Honestly, this is sheer hypocrisy on the part of Government,” said Mavhundu.
This year’s World AIDS day commemorations were held in the Northern asbestos mining town of Bindura on Monday under a challenging theme, ‘Proven leadership in HIV prevention-Scale up Treatment, Care and Support Now’.
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