Health workers all revved up to hit the road and beat HIV - Times Online:
Not one baby in Lesotho will be born with HIV in 2010. That is the ambitious pledge made by Mphu Ramatlapeng, the new Health Minister in this tiny African kingdom, which has been ravaged by the virus. And Riders for Health, the international charity chosen by The Times for this year’s charity appeal, has a crucial role to play in her quest to conquer HIV-Aids.“Not one baby in Lesotho will be born with HIV in 2010″ is a tall statement, but perhaps we need tall statements in Lesotho, as tall as the mountains of the Malutis, in order to get half that much done. This is a forward-sounding project, and we need forward-sounding projects to beat what we’re up against. What we’re up against is starvation, drought and AIDS/HIV, and finding good governance, which is in reality necessary to get tall statements and forward-sounding projects implemented successfully. How do you see it?In a unique partnership Riders, the Elton John Aids Foundation and the Lesotho Government will ensure that hundreds of nurses, doctors and health workers are mobile by the end of next year – essential if HIV is to be eradicated. The Elton John foundation will provide 120 motorbikes. Riders for Health will teach health staff how to ride and guarantee to keep the bikes on the road with its preventive maintenance programme.
One of my fears is for this project to go the way others have gone before: start off well, peter out almost immediately, and line the pockets of a few people. Please see this post. This does not mean help to Lesotho should be halted. It means help to Lesotho should be increased beyond the money, it means we need the money given to help Basotho, and for that the sponsors and donors must keep the books of the money they give. Else we’re sunk, as will the money. I’ll take this opportunity to wish Basotho Keresemese e monate, le selemo se secha se tletseng tšepo, khotso, pula le nala. None of those can really happen without the other.
