Many South Africans living with HIV are intentionally not taking their medication in order to qualify for a government disability grant of 870 rand a month, which is the equivalent of around $124 U.S. (iol.com, 10/16).
Activists fear that by providing disability grants to those with a CD4 count of 200 or less, the government is encouraging HIV-positive people to deliberately make themselves ill and avoid medical care until it is too late.
The grant covers individuals only for six to 12 months. After that period, their health would be reviewed.
Boniswa Seti, literacy coordinator of the Treatment Action Campaign, urges that people living with HIV “learn that the grant will only cover you for a short period of time, not forever.”
The South African Social Security Agency reported earlier this year that 1.4 million people are beneficiaries of this disability grant.
"I'm HIV positive and diabetic (as well as have high cholesterol) and some of my meds specify taking them with 'high fat foods' which I have to do twice a day. I've eaten as healthy as possible, but when it comes to high fat foods, I am in a quandary...about what to eat sometimes..."
