An Inhumane Move

PLEASE allow me space in your popular newspaper to add my voice to the appeal made by the AIDS Law Unit (ALU) of the Legal Assistance Centre to the Ministry of Health and Social Services to rescind its decision of scrapping the AIDS disability grant, which was given to people living with HIV-AIDS in our country (The Namibian, July 25 2005).

I do not want to repeat everything because the ALU has correctly explained the possible consequences of the Ministry’s decision. But I want to add that this decision is indeed uncaring, because a grant given to a person living with HIV-AIDS, who needs it, is a life-prolonging grant or a grant for life.Scrapping this type of grant in a wholesale fashion is totally wrong.In the communities (especially in rural communities) our people who are infected with HIV-AIDS are languishing in abject poverty.They are unable to produce adequate food for themselves because of the debilitating effects of HIV-AIDS.They do not have transport money to go to health facilities for follow-up appointments or to collect their Antiretroviral medicines (ARVs).They do not have money to pay at health facilities in order to get their ARVs.Therefore, the grant given to people living with HIV-AIDS could have helped to solve some of these problems and taken some of the burden from families and communities who are left to look after the infected persons under very difficult conditions.There are alternatives to a sweeping abolition of the grant; the Ministry should apply the grant selectively to deserving cases (because it is true that not everybody who is HIV positive needs the grant).It should set criteria for accessing the grant and give it to those who really need it to live.It can make use of social workers and CBOs to assist it to identify the needy clients.The people are there in our communities who need this grant badly as it could be the only means left for them to survive.Let us hope the Minister of Health, who is leading the fight against HIV-AIDS in our country, will heed our calls and annul the decision of abolishing the AIDS disability grant in full.A selective application of the grant is preferable.C H Mwandingi Via e-mailBut I want to add that this decision is indeed uncaring, because a grant given to a person living with HIV-AIDS, who needs it, is a life-prolonging grant or a grant for life.Scrapping this type of grant in a wholesale fashion is totally wrong.In the communities (especially in rural communities) our people who are infected with HIV-AIDS are languishing in abject poverty.They are unable to produce adequate food for themselves because of the debilitating effects of HIV-AIDS.They do not have transport money to go to health facilities for follow-up appointments or to collect their Antiretroviral medicines (ARVs).They do not have money to pay at health facilities in order to get their ARVs.Therefore, the grant given to people living with HIV-AIDS could have helped to solve some of these problems and taken some of the burden from families and communities who are left to look after the infected persons under very difficult conditions.There are alternatives to a sweeping abolition of the grant; the Ministry should apply the grant selectively to deserving cases (because it is true that not everybody who is HIV positive needs the grant).It should set criteria for accessing the grant and give it to those who really need it to live.It can make use of social workers and CBOs to assist it to identify the needy clients.The people are there in our communities who need this grant badly as it could be the only means left for them to survive.Let us hope the Minister of Health, who is leading the fight against HIV-AIDS in our country, will heed our calls and annul the decision of abolishing the AIDS disability grant in full.A selective application of the grant is preferable.C H Mwandingi Via e-mail