in DR. of the Congo

TRANSCRIPT:

My name is Vital Pene Risasi. I am 31 and single. My parents are still alive but not with me here in Kisangani because of the war. I am the coordinator of a national NGO here in the Democratic Republic of Congo which is involved in the care and treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS. I am also the president of the national network of people living with AIDS, representing the Eastern provinces. As we speak, there are 291 people on antiretroviral therapy. In 2005, we convinced 830 soldiers from the Kisangani Garrison to be tested voluntarily. In total, 7792 people were tested voluntarily. The Global Fund supported the care and treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS, and we also benefited from a community testing centre which it supported through the German Technical Development Agency. I am also the coordinator of this community testing centre.

I imagine that after a prolonged war, there are few if any health and other services- How did this programme reach and convince so many people?

There are no jobs in Kisangani… if you take for example, that the average age when girls have their first sexual experience is as low as 13 years, and that girls are forced to engage in commercial sex work because their parents have no jobs so cannot take care of them, then you know that this is the kind of situation in which HIV thrives. Besides, villagers do not have farming tools, while roads are still impassable. The only access we have to large towns is through the river and even there you won’t get enough boats! Those who were wounded in the war find their way to the town every day to beg for help from locals in order to survive.

In this province, it is people living with HIV/AIDS, with a lot of dynamism, who have brought the attention of the rest of the community to AIDS. For instance, when I first spoke about my HIV positive status, people neither understood nor believed what they were seeing- that is what captured the attention of the population. It is people living with AIDS that took control of the fight against AIDS in this province. That is why we have good results.

Do you have any final words to add to this?

I am very happy that the Global Fund is involved, and I would like it to maintain its policy of putting people living with AIDS at the centre of their programmes. People living with AIDS dwell with the rest of the population. We therefore cannot limit the extent to which the virus can spread. Can we estimate the number of new infections that occur each day? It is difficult ! Therefore, it is in the interest of everyone to care for people living with HIV/AIDS so that they, in turn, can protect those around them.