‘More efforts needed in HIV/Aids fight’
By Audrey Kapalamula:
The Ministry of Health and Population has said there is more to be done to reduce cases of new infections of HIV in the country.
Chief of Health Services in the ministry, Charles Mwansambo, Thursday said there were still groups that were being discriminated against.
“We need to work together to make sure that we bring these [cases of discrimination] to a minimum and stop new infections from happening. Basically, we are encouraging the nation to carry on, intensifying our fight against HIV and also intensifying the fight for health rights of those affected by HIV,” he said
He was commenting ahead of the launch of International Aids Candlelight Memorial campaign to be held in Zomba City on Sunday.
Mwansambo said the country had made strides, with over 91 percent knowing their status, putting on treatment 83 percent of those diagnosed HIV positive and suppressing the viral load of those on antiretroviral therapy, in line with 90:90:90 targets.
Malawi Network of People Living with HIV and Aids Executive Director, Lawrence Khonyongwa, said, for the country to achieve zero deaths by 2030, there was a need to consider providing enough resources to National Aids Commission (Nac) to efficiently coordinate HIV and Aids-related activities in the country.
“Funding is one of the constraints affecting the HIV and Aids fight in the country. We are appealing to the government to increase the amount of funds channelled to the commission. We are also appealing to partners to increase domestic resources because, at the moment, most of the resources are coming from development partners— which is not a healthy situation for the country,” he said
Nac records indicate that the country has reduced cases of HIV and Aids-related death from 64,191 in 2005 to 12,987 in 2018.
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