BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Poverty is such a major and growing threat for HIV-positive breadwinners who are unable to work due to ill-health or fear that their status will become known in their workplace.
The situation is worsened when wives are compelled to stay at home to look after sick family members. As household incomes drop, the family's ability to satisfy basic needs such as food and nutrition as well as schooling for their children is diminished.
In addition, the pursuit of health care and treatment is often sacrificed in such situations. To mitigate the effects of the diseases, people living with HIV/AIDS need to engage in income generating activities (IGA) that would enable or enhance their families’ earnings.
With funding from Intessa San Paolo through Project Malawi a pilot project has been launched whose aim is to train people infected or affected with the virus in business and financial management in Balaka.
Intessa San Paolo is an Italian bank and has granted 15m Euros (over K3billion) CISP, Drug Resource Enhancement against Aids and Malnutrition (Dream) Programme, Save the Children and Malawi Girl Guide Association (MAGGA) and Department of HIV/Aids and Nutrition in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), with which the NGOs are expected to use in implementing the project in partnership.
The focus of the project is to help individuals interested in entrepreneurship to acquire skills on how they can run and manage their businesses and finances so that they become financially independent within settings that they are comfortable in, taking into consideration their family commitments.
Beneficiaries are often encouraged to do their small-scale businesses within home settings where they can easily attend to their family needs.
McRay Mtambitsa of Traditional Authority Nsamala in Balaka attended the training and he is one of the PLHWA that have successfully managed his business and finances.
Mtambitsa has not only improved his household incomes; he has also created jobs for three people who are currently working in his carpentry shop at Balaka market.
As the HIV/AIDS epidemic is having a debilitating impact on rural households and their livelihoods in many sub-Saharan Africa , it is only prudent to empower PLWHA with skills to manage their monies so that the impact of the disease is lessened, said Dream Programme Project Manager Francisco Zuze.
Recent data on HIV/AIDS prevalence in southern Africa show HIV rates that surpass 20% in six countries in the sub-region. While HIV prevalence is higher in urban areas, as the epidemic matures it also penetrates rural areas, rendering large proportions of the most productive age groups either ill or dead.
“HIV/AIDS is therefore having a damaging impact on smallholder agriculture, which is the mainstay of economy in Southern Africa . Problems are evident in areas such as food security; depletion of labour; loss of inter-generational knowledge and skills; and loss of income, and land inheritance rights for women and youth,” said Zuze.
“We, therefore, need to empower PLWHA with business and financial management skills so that they should not be at the most disadvantage and enable them become financially independent,” he added.
The fight against HIV/AIDS needs to be multi-sectoral, involving a combination of prevention, treatment and care and mitigation.
Mitigation – reducing or offsetting the impact of the disease-is increasingly important, as illness and mortality take a greater toll.
Households, communities, government and development partners are implementing a variety of interventions to mitigate the impact of the epidemic on smallholder agricultural production.
CISP findings indicate that HIV/AIDS impacts negatively on smallholder agriculture, food security and rural livelihoods through labour and capital shortages, loss of knowledge and skills, loss of farm implements, loss of access to production assets such as land, and loss of formal and informal institutional support.
The overall effects of HIV/AIDS impacts are reduced smallholder agricultural production, reduced income, and reduction in household assets, causing reduced access of households to food, health and education.
CISP HIV/Aids expert Yusuf Kadwala said in Balaka that in rural poor and semi-urban households, AIDS causes severe labour and economic constraints that disrupt agricultural activities, aggravate food insecurity, and undermine the prospects of rural development.
Kadwala explained that under the partnership, Dream Programme provides medical and nutritional support to PLWHA while CISP provides training in financial and business management.
“Dream Programme refers anyone interested in entrepreneurship to us for training. And we do refer all the children in need of psychosocial support to Save the Children and MAGGA and the initiative has really reduced the impact of the disease and suffering on families infected and/or affected,” he said.
When visited on December 20, 2009, Mtambitsa said he had greatly benefited from the training.
“I started with a very small capital, but today my business has expanded. I have three workers who I pay without any hurdles,” he explained.
However, Mtambitsa complained that lack of mechanized equipment is the major challenge facing his business enterprise.
“Many organizations are coming with their orders, but the manual equipment that I am currently using cannot help me finish the work in scheduled time,” he explained.
END
No comments:
Post a Comment