With about 11 per cent of the South African population affected by HIV/AIDS, the epidemic is not only a health crisis but a critical social justice issue that the country is finally taking seriously at the national level, says Jonathan Berger, a visiting health fellow through the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program at the Faculty of Law.
Berger was one of the first foreign students to receive a LLM through the program, in 2001, and he is now the senior researcher and head of policy, research and communications at the Aids Law Project in Johannesburg. He was invited back in November to the law school to conduct research that would assist South African activists in their fight against HIV/AIDS.
"My research stay at U of T's Faculty of Law provided me with the opportunity to work on a substantial piece of writing on health systems reform," he says. Reforming the South African system, he says, is a critical piece of the emerging national strategy for fighting HIV/AIDS. Additionally, he says, it gave him time to properly integrate new legislative developments in the field in South Africa into his work, ensuring that his research and recommendations remained timely and relevant."
With 5.5 million South Africans living with HIV, there is clearly little time to waste. Yet, despite the staggering number of cases in his country, Berger says that only 50 per cent of those living with the disease are getting proper treatment. He adds that the disease disproportionately affects black and poor people, and that factors relating to race and gender, urban versus rural dwelling also affect the spread of the disease.
"It is only recently that with a change in our presidency, South Africa has decided to make HIV/AIDS a national health priority with an appropriate national strategy", says Berger, who returned to South Africa before the holidays. "Immediately upon assuming office, our new President appointed a new health minister and deputy health minister who started developing a strategic plan encompassing everything from prevention, intervention, access to medicines and access to legal assistance for those living with HIV/AIDS who face a host of discrimination issues."
In addition to his research and public lectures at the Faculty of Law, while in North America Berger also had an opportunity to speak at several other leading American universities such as Yale, Georgetown, the University of Virginia, the Washington College of Law at the American University at the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization. While in Toronto, he delivered the keynote address at the Faculty of Law's student-run commemoration of World HIV/AIDS day in December 2008.
Berger began his career working for the South African National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality but has always been politically active in public interest and social justice issues. For now, Berger's focus is on making sure that individuals with HIV/AIDS in his country get access to the services and treatments that are their legal right to obtain.
"What we really need to focus on now in South Africa is proper access to medicines -- this is a foundational step in combating the problem and to broaden the breadth of the institutions that deal with HIV/AIDS," he explains. "Access to health care is a constitutional right in South Africa, and my organization is determined to ensure that our health system is respectful of that right."
