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WASN treatment literacy campaign begins in earnest
Women and AIDS Support Network (WASN)
August 13, 2003

by Matilda Moyo

The Women and AIDS Support Network (WASN)’s Treatment Literacy Campaign began effectively this year and was received with much alacrity by the general populace, most of who had lost hope in life after an HIV positive diagnosis.

To mark the beginning of this campaign, WASN hosted a weeklong training of trainers’ treatment literacy workshop in the resort town on Nyanga during the month of January. The workshop was targeted at health service providers in the corporate world as well as AIDS activists from AIDS Service Organisations (ASOs) that are involved in treatment. Prior to this, WASN had meetings with the corporate world in preparation for the campaign.

The workshop aimed to train strategic people from various organisations and equip them with skills so that they could in turn conduct training on HIV-related treatment. WASN also hoped to create a pool of experts who could be used to enlighten people about the treatment options available to them as well as to initiate discussion on treatment in the country.

Through the workshop, WASN also intended to facilitate the sharing of experiences with people who were already on treatment.

Facilitators to the workshop were drawn from a cross section of society from the Southern African region and included medical experts, activists and people living with HIV/AIDS, thereby providing a wealth of information from diverse experiences.

The workshop proved very effective, with some of the participants learning about treatment for the first time. This was particularly so for the corporate world, which has been drastically affected by the AIDS pandemic and is losing precious human resources in large numbers.

Commenting after the workshop one of the participants said: "It opened my eyes, I feel very empowered. More people should know this information."

WASN is pleased that following the workshop, a number of participants from the corporate world have started treatment programmes for employees and their families, a development that WASN welcomes as it believes that treatment should be accessible to all HIV positive people in the country.

The workshop was followed by media advertisements in the local press, informing people that there is hope and people need not die unnecessarily of HIV-related opportunistic infections (OI’s), most of which are treatable, while others are avoidable.

Through the advertisement, which shall be a frequent occurrence, WASN provided relevant information about the treatment options available locally.

WASN also brought out the fact that an average of 2 500 Zimbabweans die weekly of treatable HIV-related opportunistic infections (OI), and with an HIV-prevalence of 2.3 million people, more lives could be lost, yet these deaths can be averted through treatment.

"Chief among the opportunistic infections that are killing people are Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia (PCP), Cryptococcal meningitis and thrush of the mouth and oesophagus, to name a few."

"Sadly, many people die prematurely because they lack access to both information and medication. Many Zimbabweans are still not aware that most HIV-related deaths can be avoided through various treatment options. Some fatal OIs can be avoided through prophylaxis (that is, prevention) using locally manufactured and/or donated drugs. Furthermore, a significant number of people do not realise that it is possible to delay progression to full-blown AIDS, while living a normal, healthy and fulfilling life," read part of the advertisement.

WASN also noted that without information, people would remain ignorant and fail to take advantage of existing interventions, resulting in continued suffering and death.

It is with this in mind, that WASN embarked on the "treatment literacy campaign" with the hope of informing people about opportunistic infections and existing HIV-related treatments. This initiative is the foundation of WASN’s "access to treatment and care campaign," that will advocate for easy access to treatment, thereby enhancing the quality and prolonging the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS, so that they can once again be productive and contribute meaningfully towards society.

All this was born out of a realisation that there was urgent need to publicise information about treatment and avert death. Ultimately, this would benefit WASN’s target population, namely, women and girls.

"We have seen women widowed, families suddenly reduced to poverty, children forced out of school with some ending up on the streets, while others turn to commercial sex work, as a result of losing a breadwinner to HIV/AIDS. Yet all this grief is avoidable, through access to treatment and care for people living with HIV," said WASN in its advertisement.

Both initiatives ended with an invitation to Zimbabweans to join the campaign and help to save the nation from further suffering and pain. WASN is pleased that this call did not fall on deaf ears but received a positive response from members of the public.

With such support, ensuring that treatment is made available to the majority of Zimbabweans should not be a difficult task.

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