Good health down on the farm in Zambia
12 January 2009
Although most people in Zambia know about HIV and AIDS,
the disease is still surrounded by a great deal of stigma. This is not only
unpleasant for those already living with the virus, it in fact serves to fuel
the epidemic even further. So strong is the fear of being stigmatized and
discriminated against, people are unwilling to get tested, seek treatment and
admit their HIV positive status to others.
Kushiya Farm is a privately owned dairy farm near the town of Mazabuka in the south of the country. Since 2006, the farm has paid host to a DFID-backed programme that goes into workplaces to raise HIV/AIDS awareness among staff.
The trigger for the programme's arrival at Kushiya was the death several years ago of a farm employee. Realising that staff knowledge about HIV/AIDS was dangerously low, one of the farm's directors contacted the programme, which was already providing support in other farms in the area. The programme trains farm-workers to become peer educators and makes voluntary counselling and testing available on the farms themselves, during working hours.
Stay well with Getwell!
"The
biggest success has been the mobile counselling and testing," says Getwell
Sekeleti, Kushiya Farm's focal point for the programme. "Before the
programme came in, people feared going to get tested. Now they are calling for
the voluntary counselling and testing to come again to the farm. Also, the stigma is going down, as we know more
people who are positive. But this is still a challenge."
When counselling and testing first became available at Kushiya, over two-thirds of employees got tested, 18% of whom were found to be positive. And of those who tested positive, 22% disclosed their status to their managers. Farm funds were made available to help these workers get treatment.
The set-up of the testing session was well-suited to Kushiya's employees. They were much more willing to get tested on-site rather than in public hospitals and preferred to be tested by strangers over hospital health workers, who generally live in the same locality as them. Eight months after its first visit, the mobile counselling and testing unit returned to the farm, and it is hoped that, in the future, it will visit again at least once a year.
Overcoming fear
Despite
its successes, it hasn't all been plain-sailing for the programme.
"There were huge stumbling blocks," acknowledges Guy Robinson, the owner of Kushiya Farm, of the early days of the programme. "The big fear for most was 'if I'm positive, I lose my job'. The farming industry is not coming out strongly enough to say that no-one will be dismissed on disclosing their status." Guy is currently consulting the Zambia National Farmers' Union to develop a HIV and AIDS workplace policy for the whole of the farming sector.
In addition, efforts are now underway within the programme to build networks of HIV-positive people. Complementing the work already being carried out, this should increase acceptance towards those living with the virus and help more of Zambia's people to go on living full, productive lives.
Facts and stats
- An estimated one in seven Zambian adults lives with HIV, with the national HIV prevalence rate among 15- to 49-year-olds standing at 14.3%.
- DFID Zambia is committed to supporting an effective HIV and AIDS response. Although around 60% of DFID Zambia’s resources will go through the National Treasury in the form of General Budgetary Support, much of the remaining funds will be channelled through flexible funding instruments and civil society.
- DFID Zambia has committed £20 million (2004-09) to the Strengthening the AIDS Response Zambia (STARZ) Programme. STARZ is managed and administered by HLSP, an international health consultancy.
- Of this money, £640,000 is allocated to a Private Sector Fund, administered by the Zambian charity Afya Mzuri, which aims to build the capacity of the private sector to respond to the HIV/AIDS pandemic - supporting projects such as the one at Kushiya Farm.
