Africa: Grannies meet over HIV/AIDS effects

  1. Posted on Friday 7 May 2010 - 10:30
    Muhyadin
    Muhyadin Ahmed Roble, AfricaNews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya
    About 500 grandmothers from 13 sub-Saharan African countries have converged in Swaziland to discuss HIV/AIDS and its effect on their lives. Many of the frail looking women who are taking part in the conference are caring for their grandchildren after losing their own adult children because of the menace.
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    Selected grannies came from Canada and are being sponsored by the Swaziland for Positive Living (Swapol), the Canadian-based Stephen Lewis Foundation and the Swazi government.

    The organizers said that they are planning to form a solidarity movement of African grandmothers to attract targeted aid.

    The purpose of the conference is to allow grandmothers to share their experiences and concerns as well as raise awareness, said Philile Mlotshwa spokesperson for Swapol.

    "The grandmothers are at the front line of the HIV and Aids epidemic in Africa," she told BBC.

    "Yet no-one has ever recognized the efforts they have actually put through over the two decades when HIV and Aids were discovered in Africa," she added.

    Africa has the highest number of AIDS patients in the world and it is estimated that close to a half of the continent's population is either infected or affected by AIDS.

    More than 70% of the world's HIV/Aids sufferers are from sub-Saharan Africa and large parts of the population have been wiped out by the disease.

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