I met her in a spartan, first floor office above a rundown shop in Nairobi, where she volunteers for a group working in the churches and mosques of Kenya to combat the stigma of HIV and AIDS. Frustrated at the lack of positive role models she took the brave step of speaking out publicly to show that this virus is not limited to ‘sinners and fornicators’. The following day her son was fired from the job he had held for seven years. His boss knew that he was not HIV positive, but sacked him anyway because of the shame that the mother’s confession had brought to the firm.
This sort of thing happens every day. The company in question is no small, indigenous concern; it is a multi-national behemoth whose products we in the north consume on a daily basis.
Despite this, it is important to hold on to the fact that Kenya has come a long way in the fight against HIV/AIDS. A few years ago there were 200,000 new cases per year; that number has dropped to ‘just’ 70,000. Vast sums of American taxpayers’ dollars and a strong commitment from the UK are helping to turn the tide, though the task in hand remains colossal. Half of the new cases are babies. Mother-to-child-transmission of the virus has been virtually eliminated in the developed world, yet in Africa half a million babies are born HIV positive or contract it in the first year through breast-feeding.
Anti-gay legislation is another obstacle, which is both a human rights affront and a public health disaster. Why would a gay person who may be HIV positive seek help only to run the risk of discrimination or imprisonment? Donor countries carry the guilt of our missionary ancestors who forced a Victorian sexual morality onto Africa; now we cavil at urging progressive sexual mores onto a continent which remains a bulwark against the liberal tide. Yet if we don’t, the good results achieved by our aid money will be undermined by repressive laws.
The coming months will be crucial in deciding whether the momentum of the past few years can be sustained; sadly, the omens are not good. At the recent replenishment conference for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, donor countries fell short of even the bare minimum needed. The fund supports about half of the world’s poor who are getting treatment, paying for AIDS drugs for three million patients; properly funded, it had hoped to reach five million or more. It now won’t get close.
Our own government is yet to confirm how much more money we will give. They say this is down to an internal review within the Department for International Development, not due to be completed until next April, but until they make a firm announcement there will remain uncertainty and unease over the UK’s intentions.
It is good that the coalition has ringfenced the DfID budget and they deserve support against the Mail-Express nativist axis. Nonetheless the government needs to give a clear signal now that the UK remains committed to working through the Global Fund, which is the most effective, multilateral partnership operating today. Failure to do so would be an abdication of the international leadership position that, under Labour, the UK built up over the past decade and give others the excuse to reduce their own contributions. If this happens the fight against HIV and AIDS will get a whole lot harder.