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November 26, 2008
He should not have died
By: Beatrice Tonhodzayi
ZIMBABWE
The impossible had happened, a great mountain had fallen!
The man I had looked up to since childhood was no more.
My brother was gone.
He had died after a battle with illnesses that ranged from Karposi sarcoma, Tuberculosis to headaches. It was heartbreaking and I thought the family would never be able to heal from the pain.
Never again would I see his smile, hear his voice, or cower in fear as he admonished me for wrongdoing or smile in anticipation of his praises after doing exceptionally well at something.
Never again would I see my mother smile after hearing his car in the driveway as he came to visit his “old queen” with a boot full of goodies and treats.
AIDS had once again destroyed a family’s dreams.
My brother Tau was in the prime of his life. At 35, he had just got married and had a two-year old son. He has just finished paying for his house and was looking forward to a long life with his wife and children in the house of his dreams but all this never happened. The minute he tested positive for HIV, he accepted his fate and so did my family.
From my father, mother, siblings to his wife and her family- it all became a matter of waiting. Making him comfortable and praying to God was all we could do.
That was the fate of many People Living with HIV (PLHIV) who tested HIV positive early on in Zimbabwe’s epidemic.
Anti-retroviral therapy was not something we knew of then. Yes, there were rumours that rich people were going to neighbouring countries such as South Africa and accessing medicines for AIDS but this was not just anyone. You had to have loads of money to do this, something that my family and many others who were in the same boat, did not possess.
Treatment, was available but only for the rich.
Those who fell ill then, waited for death, and indeed it visited them.
Today should be different.
But Zimbabweans will tell you that for some, there is really not much difference from those years when my brother and others like him, just died. There is not much difference from those days when only the rich survived. With the country’s biggest medical aid companies, CIMAS and PSMAS struggling to stay afloat in the midst of the worst economic crisis to hit a country that is not at war, just being sick is something that many Zimbabweans can afford to do.
Thirty year old Wonder of Mbare, Harare’s oldest high-density suburb, says just the thought of succumbing to TB, pneumonia or any other opportunistic infection fills him with dread. “I tested HIV positive in 2001. I have been on treatment since 2003. My medical aid cover used to make it easy for me to get my ARVs but now, our company is just failing to keep up with medical aid costs. “While they used to pay for my drugs as well as my wife’s, they are now failing. Doctors and hospitals, that we go to for regular check-ups and monitoring, are also no longer accepting medical aid as they prefer cash,” he said.
But where does a Zimbabwean get cash from? The bite is even worse for those who are not on medical aid. Cleopas Mutsinda works in a clothing firm. Zimbabwe’s textile industry is facing one of the hardest crunches of all time. Paying wages on a weekly basis has become difficult for many employers. Harare’s industrial site, once a hive of activity has gone deadly silent over the past five years.
Cleopas and others at his workplace last reported for work three weeks ago after their Asian employer failed to access the cash that is needed to pay all 30 of his remaining workforce. Over 100 have since been laid off. The maximum limit at Zimbabwe’s banks stands at $1 000 000 (the equivalent of USD2). Transport to and from work for many stands at an average of the same amount.
Speaking of his plight Cleopas said: “People Living with HIV and AIDS do not have to die, we know but when a situation is like this, obviously we will die. I cannot remember the last time I ate a well-balanced meal and I have not been able to keep my appointments at the clinic. I am supposed to report in at least twice a month but I haven’t had any money for transport for close to six months now.” Asked whether he is not worried that this would compromise his well-being, Cleopas says: “It’s not a question of choice but just how it is. We call upon policy makers at all levels to do something about the plight of PLHIV in Zimbabwe.”
A medical practitioner Dr Michael Chikwanha, who operates in Harare, said treating people had become difficult as doctors, clinics and hospitals also did not have any drugs and medicines in stock. Writing out prescriptions, was one way of getting round this, but doctors knew that only a small percentage actually managed to buy the prescribed drugs. “It’s a difficult situation. We don’t have the money to buy drugs so that we can give them out to our patients. We also are failing to remain operational because what medical aid pays us is too little. When we charge cash, very few patients can afford to come in.
Looking at it from all these angles, you can see that it is almost impossible to get an efficient health delivery system running in the country today,” he said
As the world prepares to commemorate World AIDS Day under the theme of Leadership, it really is crucial for government and civil society organizations to ensure that they deliver on the promises they have made in the past, one of them being that of universal access to prevention, care, treatment and support to all by 2015.
Otherwise the despair that hit my family on that bleak day when Tau breathed his last at a nursing home somewhere in Harare will hit many more families.
It will be worse however, because this time, the treatment to ensure that people living with HIV live longer and healthier lives, is available.
It just needs to be made available to those who need it.
Beatrice Tonhodzayi is a Programme Officer-Media for southern Africa HIV and AIDS Information Dissemination Service (SAfAIDS)
Reproduced with permission from: http://www.healthdev.net/kcteam/