Access to Health: campaigning on a local level in South Africa while waiting for LTA research findings

Friday, 05 August 2011

“Whilst waiting for the results of the evidence-generating tools, civil society can work to tackle burning issues at hand,” said Nombasa Gxuluwe of the Ubuntu Bethu Civil Society Platform in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa at the HIV Leadership through Accountability (LTA) Planning and Review Meeting, held this July in Nairobi, Kenya. In some countries, civil society platforms have gotten a head start in the LTA programme, before the PLHIV networks have become fully involved and well before the network’s research produces data to inform advocacy campaign

This was the case in the Eastern Cape, where key stakeholders became engaged with the LTA programme in 2009, deciding initially to focus on two districts in the province where there was a clear need to address gender-based violence, and traditional practices such as forced marriages that increase the vulnerability of young women to HIV (these efforts are ongoing). In 2010, these stakeholders came together with NAPWA and formed the Ubuntu Bethu Civil Society Platform. Then the task team drew the Platform’s attention to an underserved village in the district, where the mostly unemployed population have very limited access to health services, which was only intermittently served by a mobile clinic. Many of the younger people in the community are coinfected with HIV and TB, but because of the limited access to health services, there is a high default rate on both TB and HIV medication. Key HIV related services including HIV counselling and testing (HCT), CD4 cell count and viral load measurement, and treatment for opportunistic infections were inaccessible. At least 5 PLHIV and/or TB died within a three-month period in the community due to treatment default.

So the platform decided to launch the “Access to Health Campaign,” advocating for a clinic built for the village. Actions taken included meeting with the Department of Health (DoH) officials to investigate whether there was a plan for such a clinic, and if there was a way to get it prioritised, meeting with traditional leaders (chiefs) in the area to discuss their role, and met with the community to get their input on how best can the platform support the campaign.

The campaign hasn’t achieved its aim yet. DoH tells the platform it is waiting on approval from the chiefs, while the chiefs — who refuse to meet with the platform — say the issue is in the DoH’s hands. With community support, the platform has developed a petition, and the platform met with the King who committed to intervene and arrange a meeting between the platform and the chiefs. It is hoped that plans to build the clinic can be fast-tracked in future meetings.