HIV: Zimbabwe urges more commitment in high prevalence countries
NAN-H-49
Commitment
By Olasunkanmi Onifade
Abuja, June 16, 2017 (NAN) Dr Angela Mushavi, Coordinator, Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission (PMTCT), Ministry of Health, Zimbabwe, has called for more commitment to fight HIV in high prevalence countries.
Mushavi made the call during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on the sidelines of a conference on HIV/AIDS organised by Caritas International.
The theme of conference is: “Early diagnosis and treatment for HIV positive children: Strengthening engagement of Faith-based Organisations”.
She said for any country to achieve the target of ending HIV by 2030, government and stakeholders needs to strategise on improving healthcare in various communities.
“Zimbabwe has achieved 95 per cent of prevention of mother to child HIV prevention because all our facilities offer healthcare for mothers infected, and this has made it easy for mothers to access care and they can receive testing and ART.
“Overtime, we used only one drug for prevention but today we use lifelong anti-retroviral treatment as soon as the women get tested positive.
“We do not wait for the HIV positive mothers to fall sick before they are put on treatment, rather we do test and treat for HIV positive women who are pregnant or lactating women”.
Mushavi however recommended Nigeria, Congo and other countries in Africa follow suit in immediate testing and treatment of persons with HIV be it an adult or a child.
The General Secretary, Christian Council of Nigeria, Dr Ibrahim Yusuf, said political and economic structures, policy, inadequate healthcare, corruption and poverty contributed to the spread of HIV/AIDS.
He said faith based organisations need to work with government and Civil Society Organisations to develop concrete and adequate programmes to tackling the mother to child transmission.
“Children living with HIV are innocent, they should not be stigmatised, neglected or abandoned to suffer.
“Faith based organisations needs to teach about HIV on the pulpit, churches needs to contribute to healthcare and education of children living with the virus.
“Government and Civil Society Organisations need to support children at the grassroots by taking care of children affected,” said Yusuf.
The Advocacy Officer, Caritas International, Mr Stefano Nobile, said the goal of the conference was to accelerate access to the treatment of HIV infected children.
He however called for more commitment by relevant stakeholders in the health sector, saying more still needs to done in preventing further spread of HIV. (NAN)
OEO/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola