The HIV/AIDS pandemic is continuing to have a devastating impact on Africa, particularly in the southern region, where some countries have prevalence rates that exceed 20 percent.

Brionne Dawson (pictured at left), NDI’s resident program manager in South Africa, discusses how the Institute has helped lawmakers play a larger role in addressing the issue and its greater societal effects.
 

• How did NDI become involved in HIV/AIDS issues in Southern Africa?

  NDI’s work began in 2001 in Malawi, where we had a parliamentary program aimed at connecting legislators and constituents around issues that most deeply affected citizens. NDI helped organize a dialogue between legislators and constituents around how the government could deliver better HIV/AIDS services. The program also focused on monitoring budgets that were allocated to provide anti-retroviral treatment for people living with HIV. As a result of NDI’s assistance, civic groups lobbied parliament to protect funding in the national budget to provide these necessary drugs to HIV patients.

• How has the program progressed since then?

  The program has expanded to several other countries, focusing on the important role of parliamentarians as advocates for constituents who are heavily affected by HIV and AIDS. NDI has worked in Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria and Zambia on HIV/AIDS. The programs have been influential in pioneering strategies for other countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), including Botswana and Swaziland.

  Through an NDI-sponsored constituency outreach program in Mozambique, parliamentarians determined that a law designed to prevent discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS was being violated, and people were being fired from their jobs on the basis of their perceived HIV status. Many citizens had no idea the law even existed and left their jobs without their employers being held responsible for the unfair dismissals.

  With support from NDI, parliamentarians worked to revise the legal framework and passed a new law in December 2008 that now provides protection for people who are unfairly dismissed.

• Can you describe the law and its provisions?

  The law contains 58 articles and a number of broad provisions.  It stipulates the provision of free treatment to people who are HIV positive, protects the right of sexual education for HIV orphans, protects people from being forced to disclose their HIV status, and acknowledges vulnerabilities faced by people living with HIV including women, children, the elderly, the disabled and the poor. The law also provides protections for women living with HIV, including the right to counseling and testing, and encourages care providers to be compassionate in how they treat people who are HIV positive. The law further mandates that the government provide anti-retroviral treatment and counseling services to citizens. The law also includes provisions that penalize the deliberate transmission of HIV.

  The process for passing the law demonstrates the important role lawmakers can play in ensuring that services are provided to citizens and helping them speak out against HIV stigma and in favor of the rights of those who are treated unfairly because of their HIV status.  It’s an example of how parliamentarians, exercising their role as brokers between citizens and government on controversial issues, can help democracy deliver for ordinary citizens by helping them secure a better life. Legislatures that are not responsive to the needs of ordinary citizens risk losing relevance, thereby compromising public confidence in democratic institutions designed to protect and serve people’s interests.

• How has NDI helped pull this all together?

  NDI has put legislators in touch with regional experts on the issue as well as active civil society organizations. In Mozambique, NDI connected legislators with experts from the University of Pretoria’s Human Rights Department – an internationally-recognized human rights research organization. They have compiled laws from across Southern Africa to determine how certain statutes have a bearing on HIV service delivery and access. This research has allowed Mozambiquan legislators to compare their law with others in the region and determine how to improve their response to emerging issues such as the criminalization of HIV and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission.

  The SADC Parliamentary Forum, an NDI partner, has introduced a model HIV/AIDS law for Southern Africa that draws on recommendations from the University of Pretoria’s work. SADC has encouraged its 14 member states to adopt the law, which conforms to international human rights standards.

  NDI supported Mozambique’s parliament as it considered various drafts of the bill and evaluated the draft against the SADC model legislation as well as relevant human rights conventions. NDI organized a series of roundtables where civil society groups and networks of people living with HIV were asked to provide input into the law. Those groups largely favored the criminalization of HIV transmission, which is currently being considered through a review process.

• NDI also sponsors programming in Zambia on HIV/AIDS issues. Can you describe the Institute’s efforts there?

  In Zambia, legislators are often reluctant to discuss HIV because as elected leaders, they are viewed as the only people who have access to resources needed to fight the disease. They fear, for example, that people will ask them for anti-retroviral drugs, which they are not in a position to provide, or funds to cover funeral costs. These burdens are a drain on their personal resources. Members complain that there are too many disincentives to being active on HIV. In some cases, members say that their involvement could perpetuate the perception that they are HIV positive and unfit for public office. As a result, Zambian legislators don’t discuss HIV publicly, partly because of its stigma and partly because they don’t want to open the door to a lot more demands they may not be able to meet.

  NDI has helped parliamentarians develop messages to make them more comfortable talking about HIV in public. The Institute has provided media communications skills training and helped members acquire more information about the epidemic in Zambia by connecting them with health experts. Following a training program NDI conducted in April, members disseminated targeted messages to encourage testing, promote responsible sexual behavior, discourage harmful traditional practices and address the major drivers of the epidemic in Zambia. One effect of the program was a statement by Hon. Sylvia Masebo, in her local language in a crowded market in Changwe before members of the press, that “It’s important for you to go for testing. You can live a long healthy life as a person who is HIV positive.” Messages like these were disseminated through a variety of media outlets, including print, radio and television, and showcased on the parliamentary radio station.

• How have NDI’s partners in the region played a role?

  The most important aspect of NDI’s work is its partnerships with local partners and their bravery to engage on such a challenging issue – their courage to work day in and day out fighting the negative attitudes that contribute to the spread of HIV in Southern Africa. Their efforts have helped motivate parliamentarians and political leaders to make an impact on this disease that is wreaking havoc on their constituents in Southern Africa.

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Published on April 20, 2009. Updated December 1, 2010.