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Breaking the Silence

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Joan Wessels

WELCOME

The desire for a caring, sympathetic national family has never been as badly needed as at this time of crisis.
Let us give those who have the disease the support and confidence to carry on living useful lives, and help to spread the message of hope among our people.
Most people in Sub-Saharan Africa with HIV/AIDS, will rely on care from their families, friends and communities and they also need to know how best to help themselves.
Most people with HIV will rarely, if ever see a professional counselor except at the point of HIV testing.
Many will also only have limited access to medical services.   It is vital to reduce the stigma and discrimination attached to HIV/AIDS, so that those infected and affected, can openly seek the support they need.
Stories abound of individuals being rejected and whole families affected by AIDS, usually out of fear, confusion, shame, anger or blame.   These feelings and attitudes need to be understood and changed.
As a caring concerned community, let us stop competing with one another and start joining hands in combating the scourge of HIV/AIDS.
I want to quote the words of our former President Nelson Mandela “We have to rise above our differences and combine our efforts to save our people.   History will judge us harshly if we fail to do so now and right now.
Aids today in Africa is claiming more lives than the sum total of all wars, famine and floods and the deadly diseases as Malaria.   It is devastating families and communities, overwhelming and depleting health care services and robbing schools of both students and teachers.
Business has suffered or will suffer losses of personnel, productivity and profits.
Economic growth is being undermined.   HIV/AIDS is having a devastating impact on families, communities, society and the economy.
Decades have been chopped from life expectancy of young children. The morality rate is expected to more than double in the most severely affected countries of Africa.
AIDS is clearly a disaster, effectively wiping out the developmental gains of the past decades and is sabotaging the future.”
Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends, comrades, let us combine our efforts to ensure a future for our children.