Health Deputy Minister, Lwipa Puma, says the country has recorded a reduction in the number of people dying of HIV/AIDs due to the provision of free anti-retrovival therapy to the old and children.
Dr Puma said in Mazabuka during the official re-openning of the Salvation Army
college of Bio-medical sciences at Chikankata Mission Hospital that government has
scored a lot of successes in the delivery of health care because of the commitment
the new deal administration attaches to the health of its citizens.
He said the provision of free Anti-retroviral therapy to the old and children which
has resulted in the reduction of the number of people dying from the deadly disease
is one of the major successes of the Mwanawasa administration.
Dr Puma observed that because of good working policies, children are now being born
HIV negative from HIV positive parents.
He said apart from HIV, his ministry has also recorded a reduction in the number of
malaria cases, under-five and infant mortality rates.
The deputy minister said government, through its national health strategic plan,
which is a chapter of the Fifth National Development Plan, aims at providing the
people with equity of access to cost effective and quality healthcare as close to
the family as possible.
Dr Puma has since called on all stakeholders to join hands with government by
supplementing its efforts in the delivery of quality health services to
disadvantaged communities.
Speaking earlier, Chieftainess Mwenda commended the government for re-openning the
Salvation Army College of Bio-Medical sciences.
The Chieftainess also congratulated President Mwanawasa for having been honoured
with a Doctorate degree in Law.
She said bestowing of the doctorate to the President has cheered her subjects.
Well this may sound like ‘good news’ but it would have sounded much much better if we dealt with the root cause of the problem – I mean the infection rate.
HIV/AIDS is caused by poverty.
Joze you are right though I have a different view about poverty causing AIDS. I have always kept this thought to my self until now. Some of these cases we consider as AIDS is not AIDS at all all. Most African governments including Zambia should come out in the open to admit that the poor living standards of people largely contributes to their poor health. Poorly treated drinking water,poor sanitation, polluted sources of water due to lack of stringent control measures from manufacturing industries, relaxed laws on pharmaceutical(any body can sell drugs whether they are expired or not it nobody’s business- malaria drug are sold in tuntemba -sad!) This list of such flaws can go on and on. Can you imagine somebody subjected to all these life devastating effects to have a longer life span. Yes, AIDS is real but let not every sickness be attributed to AIDS. Government should strive to improve the living standard of people rather than allocating huge sums of money On ARV’s.
Dr Puma is sugarcoating things with politics, which as he knows is a pain for a professional. ART has helped reduce Aids mortality recently, thanks to global fund and pepfar and others. However, as # 1 points out we need population based estimates not hospital data. In many African countries we experience a competing risk syndrome, where children who are saved from Aids still die of diarrhea, pneumonia, malnutrition and other illnesses. The HMIS for all its worth shows little change in incidence and mortality due to malaria. The latest data on childhood mortality simply dont show us that Zambia is making any real progress yet.