The drugs-only minister
Previously I wrote that I believe HIV/AIDS warrants exceptional status largely because of the complex mix of biomedical, economic, judicial, ideological, political, and socio-cultural factors at work. I’m not changing my stance, but I am annoyed how exceptional status comes to be interpreted and misused.
The Zimbabwean government has directed NGOs to suspend field operations. Seems the directive, like the country, is subject to inflation. At first the order targeted programmes believed to be using food distribution as a way to advocate political change. Next, the order grew to no food aid at all. Next, the word food was inflated to mean humanitarian. Now the directive, unlike the country, is subject to deflation, but not in a good way. The government has indicated that HIV/AIDS organizations are allowed to operate . This is a case of using the exceptional status of HIV/AIDS for political gain. Almost as if the government feels it can deal with bad press associated with letting people starve. However, HIV/AIDS is so exceptional that it would be too much to deal with bad press about people loosing access to HIV/AIDS-related services.
Worse is that the reinstatement is partial and shortsighted. Social and Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche stated the suspension on NGO operations “Does not prohibit those on ARV [antiretroviral] therapy and those benefiting from home-based care programmes to continue accessing drugs and therapeutic feeding from clinics and hospitals.”
It’s a troublesome choice of words – drugs and therapeutic feeding. Is work around HIV/AIDS only about feeding people drugs? Do people get therapeutic feeding only from home-based care, clinics, and hospitals? What about the other ways people need assistance and support to cope, be informed, and heal? The path has emerged such that the government has taken away rights as political citizens. Now the government, given its selective reinstatement of HIV/AIDS work, is largely rendering those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS to be clinical, biomedical, therapeutic citizens only.