Volunteers fighting the good fight

When the 10-year milestone of state-supplied ARV treatment was celebrated last year, some people assumed it marked the end of the fight, and that it signalled that all was good with the world. Sadly, this is not the case.

Far from the headlines and debates, there are throngs of volunteers who know that winning the fight for free ARVs remains one of many challenges towards making the right to quality health care a reality.

Sphiwe Mthembu, branch chairman for the Stop Stock Out Project in the Mopani district, knows that work on the ground is where relationships are built, where small fires can be put out before they spread, and where information relating to the harsh realities of failing systems can be gathered and used to strengthen the fight for better healthcare.

Working in the Letsitele area, about half an hour’s drive from Tzaneen, Mthembu understands the drug stock out problems that plague the clinics.

“We have stock out, but it’s not because there aren’t medicines or transport to get the medicines here. It is because of human error,” he says.

Mthembu believes the bottlenecks lie with the depots, from which deliveries are just not made to outlying areas. This results in shortages; not just of ARVs, but of all general supplies and basic medicines.

Despite the problems, Mthembu – along with Francinah Chauke, TAC branch officer, and their community volunteers of about 30 people – keeps on working for change.

“We know that door-to-door campaigns are the best way to reach the people,” says Mthembu.

One of the area’s most recent campaigns has focused on domestic violence and TB. Other campaigns in the past have been on alcohol abuse and drug adherence.

Says Chauke: “Our members report back to us where they see problems. Like, maybe someone won’t come to the door, or they say they’re not interested in going to the hospital. Then we can go back there and try to find out what the problem is, talk to that person and help them.”

She adds that because they work to develop good relationships with nursing staff, not just taking an adversarial role, they are able to bring critical cases to the attention of medical staff and get them to respond.

Volunteers make up a wide-cast net that catches the problems that could otherwise be missed. They also bring about the simple human contact which is so crucial in the ongoing battle.