Zambian AIDS victims say left in dark ahead of poll

By Shapi Shacinda

KAFUE, Zambia (Reuters) - John Kabamba has to walk 20 kilometers to a clinic for AIDS therapy and he has no idea how candidates in Zambia's presidential election would ease the suffering of about one million ravaged by HIV/AIDS.

Zambians complain that the two main contenders in the October 30 poll -- acting President Rupiah Banda and opposition leader Michael Sata -- have been largely silent on the issue during their campaigns.

Health officials and Western donors say the southern African country has made significant progress in fighting HIV/AIDS but Zambians want reassurances their next leader, who replaces late President Levy Mwanawasa, will focus more closely on the problem.

HIV-positive Clementina Mumba said one reason Banda and Sata have kept quiet is because of the deeply-rooted stigma attached to HIV/AIDS.

"I am surprised not a single politician has declared he is HIV-positive, not even one minister or legislator has done that. This portrays a picture that HIV/AIDS only infects the poor," said Mumba, chairwoman of AIDS pressure group Treatment Advocacy and Literacy.

"During the election campaign not a single candidate has said what they will do to tackle HIV/AIDS."

Sixty eight percent of all people infected with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa, where more than three quarters of all AIDS-related deaths in 2007 occurred.

While Mwanawasa won praise from Western donors for economic management, HIV/AIDS presents far greater challenges.

SOME SUCCESS

More than a million of Zambia's 12 million people are HIV positive and about 370,000 are in need of antiretroviral therapy.

In 2007, nearly 56,000 people died of AIDS, according to U.N. data, down from 78,000 in 2001.

But activists say many more die in their homes, unable to get treatment and unaccounted for because their families are too ashamed to say they had AIDS.

Health Ministry spokesman Cassius Banda said the HIV prevalence in adults aged 14-49 declined to 14 percent in 2007 from 16 percent in the previous decade.

The government has said it placed 170,000 people on free antiretroviral drug treatment from 10,000 in 2003, although scientific projections show 370,000 people required the drug.

But Zambians say they need much more than free drugs. Access to treatment and a shortage of medical staff make it more difficult to live with AIDS and HIV, the virus that causes the disease.