Global Policy Forum

By Kristin Palitza*

The recent United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) has tested relations between government and civil society in South Africa.

UNGASS saw more than 180 delegations meet at U.N. headquarters in New York, from May 31 to Jun. 2, to report on their countries' advances in countering the pandemic since the first special session -- held in 2001. At this meeting, nations promised to intensify the battle against HIV/AIDS and reverse escalating infection rates.

South Africa received criticism over the progress report it submitted for last week's deliberations; this document is used by the U.N. to evaluate the efficiency of each country's HIV/AIDS programmes. (Figures on the website of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS put adult HIV prevalence in South Africa at 21.5 percent.)

The South African Joint Civil Society Monitoring Forum (JCSMF) complained that authorities had not reflected the views of civil society groups when compiling the report, although the U.N. had instructed governments to do so. (The forum, set up in 2004, is made up of leading civic and private sector organisations.)

This allegation would seem to be borne out by the fact that the progress report makes little mention of efforts by non-governmental groups to fight the pandemic. The JCSMF also claimed that officials had excluded important data and statistics relating to HIV mortality, prevalence, the link between HIV and tuberculosis, and anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment targets -- amongst others.

For example, while the report states that about 62,000 South Africans received ARV therapy at the beginning of 2005, it does not say how many people receiving the drugs discontinued treatment or died. Certain figures were also deemed inaccurate.

In the report, the South African government takes a positive view of official efforts to contain the pandemic, awarding itself eight points out of a possible 10 for protection of human rights, political support of HIV/AIDS programmes -- and involving civil society in the planning and budgeting of the national HIV/AIDS strategy. Yet, the lack of participation by civil society organisations in national policy making was one of the main criticisms made by organisations belonging to the JCSMF.

The accusations levelled at government notwithstanding, it has taken important steps to fight the pandemic since 2001. In recent years, South African authorities have increased spending on HIV/AIDS considerably, and since early 2004 the Department of Health has provided ARV treatment free of charge. Still, claims the Cape Town-based Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), more than 1,400 South Africans continued to be infected with the HI-virus every day last year. If this trend continues, the country will have another 2.5 million HIV-positive people by 2010.

Non-governmental organisations from further afield also had complaints about UNGASS -- notably the final declaration of the gathering. The UNGASS declaration from 2001 failed to set specific targets for strengthening weak health care systems, and the 2006 declaration simply commits signatories to set their own national targets, whatever these may be. The goals will be reviewed by UNGASS in 2008.

But, says Joe Amon, director of the HIV/AIDS programme at the New York-based Human Rights Watch, "Without targets in the declaration there will be no way to hold governments accountable." "We will have an empty document, and five years from now, another 25 million people will have died from AIDS."

For its part, the South African government said it was uncomfortable setting strictly-defined goals, because poverty and underdevelopment made it difficult for many African countries to achieve them. South African delegates also refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the African Common Position, a joint statement on HIV/AIDS formulated by the heads of state of the African Union (AU) in Nigeria's capital -- Abuja -- in early May.

The document sets clear targets and timeframes for combating AIDS. For instance, it aims to give at least 80 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women on the continent access to prevention of mother-to-child transmission programmes by 2010. In South Africa, less than ten percent of women currently have access to such programmes, according to the TAC.

The African Common Position also aims to ensure that at least 80 percent of those in need will have access to ARV treatment, and that the same percentage of populations will have access to voluntary testing, counselling and condoms.

About the Author: Kristin Palitza is the editor of Agenda, a quarterly journal on women's rights and gender issues that is based in Durban, South Africa.