NAIROBI, 3 June 2009 (IRIN) - African governments are failing to offer even the most basic healthcare that could save lives, speakers warned a civil society meeting in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

"Healthcare is a matter of life and death, and the right to life is a basic human right," said Daniel Molokele, co-coordinator of an umbrella NGO, the Global Zimbabwe Forum (GZF).

"We know that ARVs [antiretrovirals], by mitigating the impact of the virus, save and prolong people's lives; it is therefore the duty of the government to ensure that everyone who needs them has access to them, has access to life."

He noted that African governments often spent far more on weapons and security than on providing basic social services like healthcare and education. "It seems we have money to kill, but not enough money to heal," he said.

Other delegates spoke of the failure to uphold women's right to sexual and reproductive health services. "Gender inequity is still a major driver of the African AIDS epidemic, so we need a paradigm shift, where the response takes into consideration the need to empower women," said Jennifer Mallet, a gender and AIDS activist from Namibia.

She noted that there was often no access to medical testing and treatment for illnesses like cervical cancer, which affected large numbers of women but were rarely offered free of charge in pubic health centres.

David Kuria, manager of the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya, said the fact that homosexuality was outlawed in many African countries meant that men who have sex with men (MSM) - a group considered at high risk of HIV - were not targeted by HIV/AIDS information and services.

"Because of the law, MSM are left out of prevention messages, and have little information about how to protect themselves. We know that many MSM are also in sexual relationships with women, which has implications for HIV in the general population, but identifying yourself as an MSM in need of information and services means you are risking arrest," he said.

"This is not a moral issue, but a matter of public health; the ban on homosexuality needs to be lifted so that we have the same right as anyone to seek medical care."

GZF's Molokele noted that if the concept of basic human rights is to become a reality, civil society would have to put pressure on governments to implement the laws protecting human rights.

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