Roles of the NGOs in the Mitigation of the HIV and AIDS Issue in South Africa
HIV/AIDS epidemic affects people from every country in the world. Mostly, countries affected by other prominent global challenges like environmental degradation are the ones that are find hard to implement mitigation measures that will lead to the prevention of the HIV/AIDS cases. Between 2010 and 2012, HIV/AIDS was responsible for the death of 1.47 to 1.7 million people worldwide (Korndoerfer, 2014). Moreover, Korndoerfer (2014) reports that globally, at about 50.6 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS, with 16.6 million of them being children living as orphans.
As HIV/AIDS continues to devastate many families and communities, the challenge is mostly affecting women, young girls, and children (Sida Report, 2004). The key factors increasing this pandemic challenge include gender inequality and violation of the rights of women, especially the one relating to the treatment of the HIV/AIDS illness (Sida Report, 2004). Although the response to the HIV/AIDS challenge has been broader and stronger, some barriers are making the NGOs and political association to fail in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Therefore, to prevent the spreading of the HIV/AIDS successfully, the organization responsible should consider addressing barriers such as lack of enough resources, inadequate funding from the world contributors, lack coordination from the countries that are profoundly affected, and duplication of the resources available to mitigate the issue (Sida Report, 2004).
HIV/AIDS as a major environmental and economic challenge for the countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and America requires the community to understand its impact, which will be significance for the healthcare system and other associates. As such, the aspect of understanding the HIV/AIDS stigma makes the healthcare organizations and NGOs accommodate the challenge and identifies a framework that will mitigate the problem.
With HIV/AIDS cases increasing in Sub-Saharan African countries such as South Africa, NGOs intervention has become a crucial way of dealing with the issue. In South Africa, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are positioned in communities and work with the specific goal of offering services to the marginalized population. For example, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is an active NGO that is focusing on mitigating the HIV/AIDS issue in South Africa. For effectiveness, USAID employs specific strategies that will enhance it deals with the barriers and causes of HIV/AIDS appropriately. To address the factors causing HIV in South Africa, USAID is forming work partnership with the public and private sectors (International Business Publications 2007). Through this strategy, the organization is set to leverage financial and technical resources from other sectors. USAID uses the resources gained from public-private sector to fight the HIV/AIDS in South Africa. Since USAID is already in partnership with most of the private and public organizations in South Africa, the organization expects more private and public organization to work with them so that it can magnify the impact and causes of the HIV/AIDS in South Africa (International Business Publications 2007).
Contrarily, Benet (2013) affirms that embracing democracy is the best way that countries can use to deal with social, economic, and environmental challenges. According to Benet (2013), democracy is a model that unifies and guide health care people, brings sustainability, and social changes, especially in the context where economic challenges are involved. Upon comparing the democracy strategy as quoted by Benet (2013), it is evident that both strategies are entirely different. As such, from the partnership strategy, USAID will attain both resources from the private and public businesses and then use the resources to prevent the increment of the HIV/AIDS issues in the S.A. For democracy, the strategy will bring unity and sustainability within the health care system, which enables them to the fight against HIV/AIDS.
References
Benet, W. J. (2013). Managing the polarities of democracy: A theoretical framework for positive social change. Journal of Social Change, 5(1), 26–39. http://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1033&context=jsc
International Business Publications. (2007). South Africa investment and business guide. Place of publication not identified: USA International Business Publication.
Korndoerfer, T. L. (2014). The environmental challenge of HIV/AIDS: A perspective on the importance of addressing HIV for environmental sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa. International Journal of Ecology and Eco solution 1(1), 16-22. Retrieved from http://www.netjournals.org/pdf/IJEE/2014/1/14-011.pdf
Sida Report (2004). The regional HIV and AIDS team for Africa. The Embassy of Sweden, Lusaka. Retrieved from http://www.sida.se/contentassets/09897266bf474cd2848959cb4c58bb85/the-regional-hiv-and-aids-team-for-africa_412.pdf
