A new type of migration is taking place in Zimbabwe. While in the past people crossed the borders into South Africa and Botswana seeking work and fleeing from their repressive circumstances, now a silent migration of HIV-positive children seeking antiretroviral treatment (ART) is taking place.
The deep rural plains of Ndolwane, Plumtree in south-west Zimbabwe share a border with Botswana. And from here, a growing number of families are taking their HIV-positive children into Botswana and South Africa to seek ART. This, some faith-based organisations (FBOs) report, has been spurred by the long waiting lists for antiretrovirals (ARVs) in Zimbabwe where government programmes to provide free medication for HIV patients are reportedly failing to match demand.
"This is how desperate the people are to provide treatment for their children," said Khumbulani Khaphela, a pastor with an evangelical fellowship church working in rural Plumtree.
"Some families after hearing that others have sent their children across the border have approached us to assist them with going there as well," he said. The churches are expected to finance the medical trips as part of their contribution toward efforts to save the lives of HIV-positive children.
The people of Plumtree are no strangers to migration. Men and women have been forced to leave their poverty-stricken villages as the lack of access to running water, high unemployment, lack of medical care and a litany of woes hit the rural communities hard. Thousands left their homes to work in Botswana and South Africa while sending back a portion of their earnings to their families.
But this migration, HIV/AIDS researchers and local elders say, has contributed to the spread of the virus as husbands living and working away from their wives and families engaged in extramarital sexual relations and returned home HIV-positive. This resulted in the birth of a number of HIV-positive children.
Read the rest of the story at allAfrica.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment