A planter of hope, the ‘humble, calm’ HIV/Aids activist is remembered for her contribution to changing the story of ARV access and patients’ rights in South Africa.
In the despairing, dark days when HIV was ravaging South Africa and access to treatment was priced out of reach for thousands, the most an infected person could wish for some days was hope and a friendly face.Yako was one of the first volunteer educators in the early years of the Treatment Action Campaign . She was diagnosed with HIV in 1999 when she gave birth to her child that year.
“I walked into a clinic and found Nomandla there as a TAC educator. She was so strong and knowledgeable. I had just been diagnosed with HIV and was completely depressed and didn’t know if there was a way forward,” says Dubula-Majola. Yako, along with Matthew Damane and Achmat, travelled to Brazil in January 2002 to buy generic ARV medicines as part of the TAC’s campaign to break the patent laws. It was also a way to keep up the pressure on government to start providing ARVs for South Africa’s growing HIV-infected population. Yako became one of the first people to start treatment through Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, in Khayelitsha.
Achmat says: “The TAC action to import ARVs supported by MSF and Cosatu broke the patent laws and Nomandla was prepared to go to prison to save lives. At that time we helped save a few thousand lives, today about three million people access ARVs in our country and tens of millions globally because of the actions and sacrifices of people, mainly working-class women, such as Nomandla Yako.
Mvinjelwa admits she’s distraught knowing that her friend became infected with Covid-19 even as she says Yako was “cautious and alert and would not move an inch towards any Covid-19 risk”.
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