Dira Sengwe Leadership in AIDS Award 2013 scooped by three joint winners
The winners of the prestigious Dira Sengwe Leadership in AIDS Award 2013 were announced amid much excitement at the 6th SA AIDS Conference, held in Durban from 18 – 20 June. The Dira Sengwe Board established this Leadership Award to recognise exceptional contributions by individuals and organisations in the country in response to the HIV epidemic. This award highlights the exceptional courage, commitment and dedication of individuals and organisations in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
This year the judges decided to make awards in two categories: An Institutional and an Individual Category.The Individual Award is jointly shared by Professor Debbie Glencross, an outstanding consultant haematologist in the Department of Molecular Medicine and Haematology at the University of Witwatersrand (WITS) and the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS), and Dr Patience Koloko who has played an enormous role in the up liftment of her community.
The Institutional Award was presented to the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), which has held the South African government accountable for health care service delivery; campaigned against AIDS denialism; challenged the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies to make treatment more affordable and cultivated strong community leadership on HIV and AIDS.
Dr Koloko and Professor Glencross share a prize of R75 000, while The TAC received fee waiver scholarships of R250 000 to support their participation in the 7th SA AIDS Conference to be held in 2015.
Nominees were judged on the following criteria: Impact of contribution by the nominee, coverage of the work in terms of time and geographical scope and the bravery in their efforts. The Dira Sengwe Leadership in AIDS Award 2013 winners are incredibly well-deserving of this recognition, and have ticked all the right boxes with regard to going above and beyond their mandate to tackle the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Dira Sengwe literally means “take action”, and is a South African-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) which was established in 2002 by the members of the local organising committee of the ground-breaking XIIIth International Aids Conference, held in Durban in 2000. “This award acknowledges the people who have shown incredible bravery during our AIDS response – activists, community members, health workers, politicians, journalists, researchers – and who have made our HIV programme something that South Africa can finally take pride in,” says Professor Jerry Coovadia, Chairperson of Dira Sengwe Conferences.
“I am so grateful for this award; I’ve been working hard to protect the nation and the next generation from HIV/AIDS. This money will go far in helping us train our volunteers as funding is an ongoing issue,” says Dr Koloko. “I have great appreciation for this Award; it’s recognition of our achievements. We have over two million people on treatment, and we are working toward helping more sufferers,” says Sifiso Nkala, who accepted the award of behalf of the TAC.
“It is quite clear to us that there are numerous persons and groups doing excellent work in a difficult field with challenging circumstances.We congratulate the winners of the 2013 Dira Sengwe Leadership Award, and recognise them for their exceptional courage, commitment and dedication. They will undoubtedly serve as an inspiration to others.Through the bravery of activists, community members, health workers, politicians, journalists and researchers, South Africa now has the largest ARV programme in the world,” states Dr Gustaaf Wolfaardt, Managing Director of the Foundation for Professional Development (FPD), and organisational partner to Dira Sengwe.
The Dira Sengwe Committee wishes to make a special mention to the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, for his contribution to the continued fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
