Failed intentions? Meeting the water needs of people living with HIV in South Africa

Galvin, Mary E.; Masombuka, None Linah N

doi:10.17159/wsa/2020.v46.i2.8239

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…In terms of affordability, South Africa's policy since 2000 has been to provide 6 kL of free basic water (FBW) per month to each household, which is equivalent to 25 L per person per day for a household of 8 people (in some municipalities, this has now been increased to 9 kL). In addition to criticism that FBW does not provide adequate water for large households, it does not come close to the increased quantity needed for PLHIV (Hunter, 2005;Muller, 2008). PLHIV must pay for the quantity of water that they use above the FBW amount.…”

Section: Practitioners: Facing the Challenges Of Providing Water Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Failed intentions? Meeting the water needs of people living with HIV in South Africa

Galvin

Masombuka

2020

WSA

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Researchers, activists, practitioners and policy-makers have grappled with the challenge of providing people living with HIV (PLHIV) with an adequate amount of safe water. Comprising 13% of the overall population of South Africa in 2018, 7.52 million PLHIV need water for drinking and taking medication; preparing food; and personal hygiene and cleaning to minimise infections. This article examines the responses of the different stakeholders to this challenge and their impact on the water and health policy process. It finds that activists were able to emphasise the dimensions of the challenge; practitioners worked to implement provision more effectively within existing policy frameworks; and a range of stakeholders made a thoughtful and promising policy proposal for direct action, which the Department of Water and Sanitation ultimately failed to embrace. This article is based on an extensive review of academic research and publications by development agencies on HIV and water as well as engagement with policies and documents in the South African water sector related to water services delivery for PLHIV. While the widespread provision of antiretrovirals from 2004 has changed the context, the above findings are significant in understanding and reviewing the impact of various stakeholders on the water and health policy process. They raise questions regarding the effectiveness of NGO advocacy, the means of delivering improved services to specific populations, and the ability of a range of stakeholders to inform the policy approaches of government departments.

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Section: Practitioners: Facing the Challenges Of Providing Water Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Failed intentions? Meeting the water needs of people living with HIV in South Africa

Galvin

Masombuka

2020

WSA

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“…Our research problem lies in understanding the role of CSOs in helping populations lacking access to safe WASH in the context of infectious disease outbreaks in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Despite the centrality of these actors in low-income settings, the literature on this topic is limited and those few studies that do exist focus on the HIV-WASH nexus, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa [ 16 , 17 ]. Our paper contributes to filling this gap and expanding the focus to other geographical regions by using the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects in a water-rich nation like Brazil as a case study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stepping into the Void: Lessons Learned from Civil Society Organizations during COVID-19 in Rio de Janeiro

Pereira

Elliott

Cárdenas

2023

IJERPH

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Brazil experienced some of the highest rates of COVID-19 globally. This was complicated by the fact that 35 million of its citizens have limited access to water, a primary resource necessary to stem the spread of infectious diseases. In many cases, civil society organizations (CSOs) stepped into this void left by responsible authorities. This paper explores how CSOs in Rio de Janeiro helped populations struggling with access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) during the pandemic, and what coping strategies are transferable to similar contexts. In-depth interviews (n = 15) were conducted with CSO representatives in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed that COVID-19 exacerbated pre-existing social inequities among vulnerable populations, undermining their ability to protect their health. CSOs provided emergency relief aid but faced the counterproductive actions of public authorities who promoted a narrative that diminished the risks of COVID-19 and the importance of non-pharmacological interventions. CSOs fought this narrative by promoting sensitization among vulnerable populations and partnering with other stakeholders in networks of solidarity, playing a vital role in the distribution of health-promoting services. These strategies are transferrable to other contexts where state narratives oppose public health understandings, particularly for extremely vulnerable populations.

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Small area estimation for South African resource distribution and policy impacts during COVID-19

Ferreira¹,

Stone²,

Vercuil³

et al. 2022

AAS Open Res

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The South African constitutional social justice commitment and equality duty requires that everyone is treated with equal consideration, but also tilts the scales in favour of the most disadvantaged. This paper explores the challenge of utilising publicly available data to promote social justice in resource distribution and fair access to essential services during crisis regulations, and explores Small Area Estimation (SAE) as a method to overcome some of these data challenges. The paper evaluates the strengths and limitations of the primary South African datasets that were available to inform fiscal and resource relief efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis. The potential to use SAE was found to be limited due to data constraints but statistics were generated at a district council level from data statistically representative at national level. This demonstrated stark disparities in hunger, access to medical products and piped water - all critical equality considerations during a pandemic. However, the level of disaggregation achieved with SAE is shown to be ineffective to represent the geographical disparities indicative of the true South African population, where extreme inequalities manifest in much closer proximities. This supports the need for improved statistical tools and more targeted and resolved data gathering efforts, to inform fair, social-impact conscious and equality-congruent regulatory impact, as well as just fiscal relief during crisis. Particularly, this work proposes the development of such tools and repositories outside of crisis times, to facilitate awareness of equality and justice issues during the tensions of national crisis.

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Failed intentions? Meeting the water needs of people living with HIV in South Africa

Cited by 3 publications

References 20 publications

Failed intentions? Meeting the water needs of people living with HIV in South Africa

Failed intentions? Meeting the water needs of people living with HIV in South Africa

Stepping into the Void: Lessons Learned from Civil Society Organizations during COVID-19 in Rio de Janeiro

Small area estimation for South African resource distribution and policy impacts during COVID-19

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