One would suspect that when people flee from their countries, it is because they are running from anguish or in fear of something, but the latest trend suggests otherwise. HIV-positive children and their parents, especially from surrounding countries like Zimbabwe, are reportedly flocking to South Africa in search of free ARVs.
"This is how desperate the people are to provide treatment for their children," said Khumbulani Khaphela, a pastor with an evangelical fellowship church working in rural Plumtree, Zimbabwe.
Some churches have joined the mission, saying that they will fund the people that intend to cross the borders. According to The Zimbabwean “The people of Plumtree are no strangers to migration. Men and women have been forced to leave their poverty-stricken villages as the lack of access to running water, high unemployment, lack of medical care and a litany of woes hit the rural communities hard.

“Thousands left their homes to work in Botswana and South Africa while sending back a portion of their earnings to their families.”
While many may believe this is a “good” thing because more people can now access antiretrovirals, it could actually contribute to the spread of the disease. Adults that come from across the border may have extramarital sexual relations in South Africa, thereby spreading the disease, and sometimes it may even lead to the birth of more HIV-positive children.

It is not a question of whether Zimbabwe provides free ARVs – they do, but they are extremely hard to come by and patients are sometimes put on a waiting list. Cross-border transporter, Mongameli Sibanda, says "It is sad when we have children seeking treatment outside the country. These things must be done here in Zimbabwe”. According to allafrica.com “frontline health workers have complained that Zimbabwean parents have left it until too late to seek treatment for children living with HIV. But this is slowly changing in some rural areas. These dire circumstances are indeed magnified among rural populations like those in Plumtree who are responding to the crisis by crossing the border to seek treatment”.
It is unclear if South Africa will start an initiative to help these people, and most South Africans are not even aware that this is happening. Many of these children are in extremely poor health and need urgent attention.

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