The Role of NGOs in the Southern
African Region
The role of non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) in the southern African region is imperative to the health and survival
of those countries. Although NGOs lack the funds and resources that
international governments haven at their disposal, they are vital.
Seventy-five percent of the NGOs in the region are local, grass roots organizations;
the other twenty-five percent are international. Zimbabwe has the
most intensive network of NGOs relating to children and the HIV/AIDS virus
in the southern African region.(Kubatana
NGO Network Alliance Project) NGOs put on many different faces
as they conduct business in this region. Some of the more important
parts they play are: medical and health suppliers, support networks, orphanages,
food suppliers, and sexual health awareness educators.
Lack of necessary drugs to combat
the HIV/AIDS virus that is rampaging through southern Africa puts the NGOs
in the region in a very tough place. The nations they are dealing
with are so poor; the medical services that are available to the public
are scarce. NGOs cannot provide medicine that will combat or prevent
AIDS, they simply do not have the money or resources to buy the drugs from
the pharmaceutical companies. What the NGOs can provide however,
are pain medications and immunizations. These services help keep
the population healthy and the overall health level higher than it would
be due to the lack of international involvement.
AIDS is the 6th leading
cause of death
for persons between 15-24 years
of age.
By 2010 one of every four children
in
Botswana, Burkina Faso, Malawi,
Rwanda,
Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and
Zimbabwe
will be an orphan.(Hope
For African Children Initiative)
NGOs also play an important role in
providing support networks for families of children with AIDS and for extended
families who take in orphaned children. The NGOs provide essential
toiletries, clothes and immunizations to families who find themselves with
an extra burden. The NGOs also provide counseling services and support
for the children and their families. Perhaps one of the more crucial
roles of NGOs relating to this type of service is to provide children who
would otherwise never be educated with the money and tools to go to school.
This may be as intense as providing for a whole orphaned family so the
children can go to school, or as simple as handing out pencils and paper.
Orphaned children are twenty-five percent more likely to not be educated
than children with a family. The illiteracy rates in southern Africa
are already astronomical, and most NGOs feel the need to have the children
educated for the next generation.
Some NGOs provide orphaned children
with a place to live and community support system. These include
medical centers and schoolhouses for the children to attend. Children
who have been ostracized from their families are also welcome in these
shelters. Children with AIDS are also given a home here. What
have come to be known as AIDS villages were started and are run by local
NGOs. These NGOs however cannot possibly accommodate the millions
of orphans that are in the southern African region.
All NGO’s have the vital role
of spreading information and giving people a strong awareness about HIV/AIDS.
CARE (a NGO based in southern Africa)
estimates that roughly ninety-six percent of the population has an awareness
of HIV/AIDS, thanks to NGOs and local governments.
NGOs are vital to the survival
of the southern African region because of the lack of international support.
However, many NGOs are run by donations and charitable gifts. It
will take the cooperation of international governments and pharmaceutical
companies to fully combat this devastating virus to the best of scientific
ability.
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