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COSATU/TAC Treatment Congress Draft Resolutions
COSATU/TAC
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A number of events and issues led to the decision by COSATU and the TAC to hold a National HIV/AIDS Treatment Congress. Over the last two years, conferences held by various organisations have led to resolutions calling for access to treatment to become part of a comprehensive response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa.
The TAC first made a public call for a treatment plan in February 2001 in a memorandum handed over the Department of Health as part of a march to parliament. This call was given further impetus at TAC's First National Congress in March 2001. The call for a treatment plan was also made by meetings of COSATU?’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) in April 2001 and April 2002.
Furthermore, last year's National Health Summit, organised by the Department of Health, endorsed the implementation of antiretroviral pilot projects, a crucial part of a treatment plan.
To give substance to the idea of a treatment plan, TAC has organised several meetings with scientists, which have resulted in a number of research initiatives, including a project with the Centre for Actuarial Research (CARE) based at the University of Cape Town to determine the costs and benefits of various health interventions -- as opposed to allowing the HIV/AIDS epidemic to proceed unchecked. While this project is not yet complete, there is enough evidence from published research to indicate that failing to provide treatment will result in a massive drop in life-expectancy, an epidemic of orphans, the failure of an already struggling public health-care system, loss of human capital and immense suffering.
Most important, a treatment plan for HIV/AIDS would fulfil the Constitutional obligation that faces the government to protect and promote rights life and dignity. This obligation has been described as follows by the Constitutional Court:
?“The magnitude of the HIV/AIDS challenge facing the country calls for a concerted, co-ordinated and co-operative national effort in which government in each of its three spheres and the panoply of resources and skills of civil society are marshalled, inspired and led. This can be achieved only if there is proper communication, especially by government. In order for it to be implemented optimally, a public health programme must be made known effectively to all concerned, down to the district nurse and patients.?”
The Treatment Congress was called with the aim of mobilising the whole of South African society, including Government, civil society, business, unions, faith organisations and PWAs, to discuss and debate the adoption and implemention of a treatment plan. The event was held on 27 to 29 June, 2002 at the Coastlands Conference Centre in Durban. The choice of venue (i.e. Durban) was intentional, highlighting that Kwazulu-Natal is the epicentre of the South African epidemic and one of the worst affected areas in the world.
Approximately 900 people attended the Congress. The delegates represented a wide range of organisations and institutions across the country, including labour, faith-based organisation, Government, scientists, doctors, nurses, counsellors and a wide range of NGOs. There was significant international participation as well, including 14 African delegates from outside of South Africa. A more detailed description of the delegates is given below.
The Congress was comprised of an opening rally, four plenary sessions, seven commissions, voluntary evening activities focussing on treatment literacy issues and a closing ceremony. At the opening rally, the delegates heard testimonies from people living with HIV/AIDS, a leading COSATU member whose daughter has HIV and a health-care worker at the frontline of the epidemic. Key-note speakers, including Prof Malekapuru Makgoba, Zwelinzima Vavi and Pregs Govender described the size of the epidemic, lamented the lack of action taken against it and endorsed the need for a treatment plan to make progress against it.
The first plenary discussed what is meant by a treatment plan and the challenges that the plan would have to meet, such as the difficult work-conditions experienced by health-care workers and the stigma and poverty associated with HIV/AIDS. The information garnered from these two sessions was crucial for the seven commissions, each covering vital areas of a treatment plan.
Delegates were also provided with a Congress book containing key documents relevant to a treatment plan. With this background, the aim of the commissions was to formulate a set of resolutions to be endorsed by the Congress.
Further plenary sessions examined the implementation of mother-to-child transmission prevention and how a managing the epidemic appropriately demands a plan to build a better public health-care system.
The last plenary was used for the commissions to report back on their resolutions to the full Congress and to determine the key elements of a consensus statement. The resolutions were discussed and a Consensus Statement accepted by the full Congress. These are presented in the following sections.
At the closing ceremony, further testimony was heard from people with HIV and various speakers mapped the way forward. Willie Madisha, the President of COSATU, called on the members of the African Union to deal adequately with the HIV epidemic and Judge Edwin Cameron, by drawing an analogy to the use of cell phones by seven million people in South Africa, pointed out the implicit racism of the view that people are not educated enough to adhere to life-saving antiretroviral treatment on a similar scale.
The outputs of the Congress, produced in this document, include a set of preliminary recommendation and resolutions, the Congress consensus statement and a statement by the African activists from outside of South Africa who attended the event.
The consensus statement and resolutions will be tabled immediately at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) and also at the SA National AIDS Council (SANAC). They will also be used to guide further research and advocacy. An essential finding of the Congress, was the need for further training and education among all organisations about key aspects of HIV, its treatment, management and the economic and political issues surrounding it.
[To download the full report, click on the link on the right hand side of this page. These draft resolutions have been tabled with NEDLAC, but delegates and other interested parties are welcome to make comments and suggestions on them before the process of editing the final version begins on 23 August 2002.] |
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