"We did not have a single coordinated body that could marshal effectively
the responses being initiated by the various actors. It is necessary that all
communities throughout the country be mobilised in a collaborative manner to
take part in the fight against HIV/AIDS/STI and TB [sexually transmitted
infections and tuberculosis] which are all inter-related," Health Minister
Brian Chituwo said while presenting the bill to parliament.
The focus of the council and its secretariat would be to advise, evaluate,
identify gaps, mobilise resources, initiate activities and produce guidelines on
how HIV/AIDS, STI and TB infections can be curbed. The council would be composed
of members from the medical profession, government, people living with AIDS
(PWAs), civil society and religious bodies.
While there were cheers over the adoption of the bill, there was also some
disquiet over perceived "gaps" in the government's strategy to tackle
the epidemic in a country where 21.5 percent of adults are HIV positive.
Guy Scott, a former minister of agriculture and now a member of the opposition
said the bill did not address the parallel realities in
There was also the issue of accessing antiretrovirals (ARVs). Scott argued there
was one rule for Zambian politicians and another for the general public.
"The politicians access ARVs and get medical treatment, at government
expense in
Axwell Zulu, secretary for the Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS, told
IRIN that although the bill was a leap forward, he was "a little
disappointed" that it was silent on issues of regulation.
He said he had expected provisions for sanctions against doctors for breaches of
confidentiality, or punitive measures for people knowingly infecting others with
HIV. "These are the issues that affect us and we have been trying to work
around them ... what we are getting is a top heavy council and secretariat which
will enable the status quo to continue, albeit under the law."
Though none of the members of parliament (MPs) objected to the bill in
principle, there was concern that the government appeared to have introduced it
as a condition to access funding from the World Bank. A pledge by the Bank in
May of US $42 million hinged on the introduction of a national AIDS policy.
"We are in a hurry to pass this bill to access money, which takes away
something from an otherwise very good thing. We are now doing the right thing
for the wrong reasons. PWAs have been crying for something like this since 1999.
We should learn to do things by ourselves, not wait for instructions from
Other MPs saw the bill as an opportunity for an African-orientated policy
approach that could challenge traditional practices such as wife inheritance and
polygamy that encouraged the spread of HIV.
"The West is preoccupied with drug addicts and gays. They formulate their
advocacy plans along those lines and then transfer them wholesale to us. But
they fail here because that is not our problem, we have our own practices that
we should interrogate," MP Sipula Kabanje said.
For the government, the easy part after the lobbying of MPs by President Levy
Mwanawasa and Vice-President Enock Kavindele, was to get the bill passed. The
test now comes over how to source long-term funding to make the council
financially sustainable, analysts said.
Health minister Chituwo said a good chunk of the money would come from the
Geneva-based Global AIDS fund, the rest from the treasury. However, 70 percent
of
"I hope the council is a success, it is an opportunity for us to reach the
levels of