the last word
Peter Busse is a leading South African Aids activist. An
out gay and positive man, he was a key figure in establishing the Township
Aids Project and pivotal in the development of that country’s HIV policies
and strategies. He continues to work as a consultant to the government
How did you first get involved in the fight against HIV?
I was diagnosed 20 years ago in 1985, and started working in the HIV/Aids
field in 1987. My initial work was as a volunteer counsellor and from there
I went to training and teaching. Basically I wanted to give something back
because I was diagnosed in a complete information vacuum and I didn’t
want people to have the same experience I’d had. I moved from counselling
to counselling training, then got involved with non-governmental HIV/Aids
organisations, eventually going on to work with national Aids organisation
and big international conferences - I was one of the chairs of the Community
Programme at the Durban Conference in 2000.
You’ve just been over in the UK, what for?
I was there for a whole variety of reasons. One of them was to share my experience
as a person living with HIV at the TUC HIV/Aids Conference. I also did some
general awareness training for Save the Children staff, and gave a talk at
the London Stock Exchange to attempt to influence business people to fund
RAISA - the Regional AIDS Initiative of South Africa, which is part of VSO
(Voluntary Service Overseas).
What are the most pressing issues facing HIV positive people in South
Africa?
I think there’s a whole range of pressing issues. One is disclosure.
South Africa has over five million people living with HIV, and disclosure
is very difficult for them, due to high levels of stigma and discrimination.
Another is access to treatment, which is very limited. To qualify for State
ARV treatment, your CD4 count has to be below 200, and so your immune system
has already been compromised. Also a lot of people don’t know their
status, and have not tested. So there needs to be greater opportunity for
people to test, and obtain counselling and support. Another big area is discrimination.
I think a lot of people would prefer not to know their status just because
they fear being discriminated against.
Is there any means of addressing stigma?
Yes, we’ve been doing a lot of work on stigma. Learning how it operates
in order to understand it. I think there’s quite a number of people
who have an irrational fear of HIV. So there needs to be education and information
on a very basic level, even about transmission. I also think that there’s
a layering of stigma. Gay men, sex workers and foreigners get triple the stigma.
While children are looked on as victims, if you’re an adult you’re
somehow guilty or criminal.
I read a quote where you say HIV has become de-gayed.
Yes, in South Africa we had a situation where the primary wave of infection
was among the gay community, then because of the enormous rate of heterosexual
transmission it was necessary to downplay the gay aspect of the epidemic and
to convey it was an issue that affected everybody, which it does. But now
in South Africa HIV has been so firmly heterosexualised that it’s difficult
to secure funding for gay initiatives. The gay community seems to have completely
dropped off the funding and education agenda.
Why did you choose to come out as a positive gay man?
It was a political act. There were very few people who were visible. In the
early 1990s one could count on two hands the number of people who were open
about their status. I felt it was neccessary to break some of the silence
and taboos and make being HIV positive visible and a reality. I am very pleased
that today there are thousands of positive people who are open and who help
others to be open as well. If we don’t come out it remains a hidden
issue.
What advise would you give to people thinking about disclosing their
status?
I think you can’t get help until you ask for it. You need to be able
to say: “I’m HIV positive and I need help,” otherwise it’s
a Catch 22 situation. My advice to people would be to think about it very
carefully and to choose who they disclose to. It is a process which takes
time and trust. But I really feel that disclosure is an important first step
to accepting and liberating yourself. It is, after self-acceptance, the first
step of our long journey of living with HIV.
