Duration: 3 minutes

Transcript:

Thandeka Teyise: Dr. Mamphele Ramphele is one of the people who suffered immensely under the past apartheid regime but today she’€™s one of the leading women who are role models in the world. She spent most of her time working as a medical doctor in rural areas of South Africa helping children and women. She says women have a role to play in addressing HIV as one of the one of the challenge in our lifetime.

Mamphela Ramphele: The biggest problem facing our society and our continent is HIV/AIDS and its sequel. It is women again who are most vulnerable to the infection. It is women again who are the last to get treated. It is women again who are the ones who look after those who are ill. It is the women who mourn children because they infected them. It is women who mourn as they die leaving orphans and so my biggest hope is that when we get to women’€™s day on August the 9th our government would have woken up to its responsibilities and do what every other government everywhere in the world even the poorest is doing which is to make treatment available for people so that they can live with AIDS like people live with diabetes, like people live with high blood pressure. It is no longer a fatal disease. It is a treatable disease. What we need is a political will on the part of our government.

Teyise: She applauds efforts done by the government to improve lives of the people. She urged women to stand tall and fight inequalities and keep on working to build and develop the needy communities.

Ramphele: There is so much that they are doing in so many other spheres this is one area where a decision would make so much of a difference. I believe that as we celebrate the achievement of women we see just what an under utilized resource women are. My hope and my word of encouragement to women is please stand up and be counted and make your light shine. Let us make our talents come through to make even birds to sing the beautiful melodies.

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