Argentina: The “Gilda” case: portrait of a Latin American reality

Observatorio Latino received an email from Gilda at its web page “Cuéntanos lo que pasa en tu país…” in which she described the difficulties she is facing in getting sustained treatment. It is possible this story is very common, yet here it seems she is speaking for the many people in her country who are experiencing the same thing she is and, for some reason, are not complaining or making it public.

This is a common Latin American and Caribbean occurrence, and we, at Observatorio Latino, receive letters from grassroots organizations and other groups about it. But this is a special case, and we would like to point out the courage and determination of this person who, without any organizational support, is publically raising her voice in protest.

Gilda was invited to tell her story during the opening of the Argentina National AIDS Congress in August. During her speech, she talked about situations and contexts that are rather widespread throughout countries in the region.

Stockouts, improper drug distribution to health centers, dose splitting, and indifference by involved organizations were reasons for Gilda to speak out about her case, one that bears many names and that demands we take up the cause of each and every one.

Lastly, we will leave you with a section of her speech that talks about the situation facing civil society, which is setting up obstacles to sustained and systematic citizen surveillance. At the end of this note, there is a link to where you can read the entire version. Please take a moment to read it.

“…Concerning networks, NGO’s, foundations, etc., we see they have walked away from the objectives for which they were originally created and their efforts spread too thinly. There are no models to follow…

We are experiencing a profound crisis of representation, where many that are called references, representatives, peers, and other names that escape me now are abandoning their principles in search of some type of personal or sector benefit.

Curiously, many blame this situation on the introduction of Global Fund resources.

Networks and institutions are divided, atomized, which weakens their ability to start relevant tasks. In reality, it is always the same people, and there are just a few of them, who can participate in these projects, forums, and the like…”

To read the entire speech, please click here:

http://www.observatoriolatino.org/upload_arch/Discurso Gilda Colman.doc  

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