PRESIDENT Mwanawasa says the high HIV infection rate in Zambia is unacceptable and is a source of grave concern that requires political commitment.
Dr Mwanawasa said in Lusaka yesterday that the HIV prevalence rate was significantly higher among women compared to men, especially for those aged below 35 years.
“The situation is particularly worrying for young women aged 15 to 24 years. In this age group, infection rates are four times higher than those for young men in the same age group,” Dr Mwanawasa said.
He said this when visiting chairperson of Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, Rajat Gupta, paid a courtesy call on him at State House yesterday.
Dr Mwanawasa said AIDS had touched every fabric of life, and had a disastrous effect on families, industry and human resource.
He said Government had responded to the AIDS challenge by putting in place a robust and comprehensive response, involving all stakeholders.
“My Government recognises that political commitment is key to the success of the AIDS response. It is for this reason that a Cabinet committee on HIV and AIDS was established,” he said.
“As head of state, I consider the response to AIDS as one of my top most priorities and demand regular updates on matters concerning AIDS from the Cabinet committee.”
The committee provides policy direction and guidance to the National AIDS Council, whose role is to support development and coordination of policies, plans and strategies for prevention of AIDS, TB and malaria.
Dr Mwanawasa said Zambia developed a national HIV/AIDS strategic framework (2006-2010) with input from a cross-section of stakeholders, including civil society.
He said HIV/AIDS was clearly articulated in the Fifth National Development Plan.
Dr Mwanawasa said another key structure within coordination and management of the response to AIDS was the country coordinating mechanism (CCM) of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.
He said it could be seen from the CCM’s composition that Government adhered to principles of inclusiveness and created an enabling environment for civil society participation.
Government had taken full responsibility for the response to AIDS by allocating some of the country’s meagre resources to the implementation of AIDS programmes.
He thanked all bilateral and multilateral partners, international NGOs, including the Global Fund, for helping Zambia move forward the response towards achieving some of the Millennium Development Goals as well as universal access to prevention, care and treatment.
Dr Mwanawasa said the government was committed to continue working with all stakeholders in Zambia to strengthen and support the involvement of indigenous civil society and communities “so that together we can achieve our goal to defeat these diseases.”
He said Zambia would support Ethiopia’s suggestion to scale up the fight against malaria among African Union member countries.
And Mr Gupta said Zambia was an important and valuable partner of the Global Fund.
He said he was encouraged by Zambia’s innovation in the fight against AIDS, malaria and TB. He said the Global Fund had raised its resource mobilisation to take care of people in countries affected by the pandemic.
He said there was need to scale up protection of women’s interests as they were the most affected by AIDS.
Mr Gupta called for an aggressive approach in fighting TB and warned that worse strains of the disease would develop if it were not stopped.
On malaria, Mr Gupta called on Zambia to scale up the fight against the disease.
“Malaria causes 1,000,000 deaths a every year (globally) and there is no excuse for that since we have the tools in our hands to stop this. We must take interest in scaling up the fight against Malaria so that together we can eliminate these deaths,” Mr Gupta said.
He earlier paid a courtesy call on Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kabinga Pande, and Minister of Health, Brian Chituwo, who is also chairperson of the Cabinet committee on HIV/AIDS.
Mr Gupta is scheduled to leave Zambia today after concluding his three-day visit.
Meanwhile Dr Chituwo says the US$172 million Zambia has accessed from the Global Fund would help the country to enhance the health system and the fight against AIDS.
Speaking at a reception held for Mr Gupta on Sunday night at Taj Pamodzi Hotel, Dr Chituwo said Government had benefited a lot from the Global Fund.
“The support we are getting from the Global Fund has enhanced our health system. We have done a lot of programmes in the fight against malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS,” Dr Chituwo said.
He said the US$350 million the Global Fund has pledged would help to strengthen the fight against the three major illnesses.
Dr Chituwo said Government would continue to support programmes aimed at enhancing prevention of transmission of the life threatening diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
Dr Chituwo said through Global Fund support, Government last year managed to distribute 3.4 million mosquito nets countrywide.
“Our target is to reach the entire country because we want to protect our children and expected mothers from malaria. We also have other programmes in place to enhance the fight against malaria,” Dr Chituwo said.
The minister said Zambia had continued recording significant progress in the fight against AIDS and that with the support from the Global Fund, Zambia was destined for a win against the epidemic.
Mr Gupta pledged more support to Zambia’s efforts in the fight against the three major diseases.
“I am impressed with some of the results in some African countries and I have no doubt that with more funds available more progress would be achieved,” Mr Gupta said.
[Zambia Dailly Mail ]
I agree with you Chuchu, it is indeed very high especially leaders who use govt money to go abroad for treatment.
comrade LPM, after the Funjika saga you can do or say no wrong in my eyes for the next few days!!
Put in alot of money for making people aware that being HIV positive is not a death sentence and get tested. If people knew their status then they would be more responsible and less children will be born negative and fewer people would be dying bacause the medication is there. It is not even ignorance that can cause someone to died from AIDS when you can control it but foolishness. What programmes are actually being put into place?
I am concerned about the women between 15 and 24 years of age. What is going on in their minds? The statistic that Pres. LPM has mentioned is alarming.
We have heard so much from women ranging form girl child to equal rights. Please, women, sort out the girls’ 4 times higher than boys’ HIV infection rate. It is a natinal disaster and disaster management team have to declare it as such.
The population of Zambia is now at stake for those who are supposed to reproduce new Zambian babies are getting sick at a dangerous rate.
See how you, women, can partner with GRZ to curb this terrible scenario.
Women should be educated that having condoms is does not mean you are cheap. Most women are afraid and as we know our men like it live.
#4, your concern about the age range among infected females alarmed me too…until i took a few minutes to figure it out……….men are dishing it out wholesale to all age groups.women between 15-24 are more sexually active than their male counterparts.how often does a 18yr old boy sleep with a 35 yr old woman? but how often do 35yr old men sleep with 18 yr old girls?? theres the answer #4 !!
thnaks #6. The mindset of young women has to be trained by mentors to help them understand the gravity of their sexual behaviour.
These unresponsible girls and ladies are putting our great nation Zambia at risk. To this end, our vocal women groups should now put more concerted efforts to educate these young women how to carry themselves.
Zambia’s population is worrying me by the day. It seems as if it is decreasing instead of remaing constant or increasing. Even smaller countries in size like Zimbabwe have 13 million people while Zed almost twice the size of Zim has only 11 million people.
have a pleasant day people.
The lasting solution is and always has been thaT:
NO SEX BEFORE MARRIEGE AND COMPLETE FIDELITY DURING MARRIEGE.
THATS THE REAL CURE MY FRIENDS!
most girls between 15 and 24 have already tasted sex therefore its no use preaching to them that no sex before marriage the only thing we can preach to them right now is for them to comdomise each time they have sex
HIV/AIDS is more than a health issue, it is also a socio-econimic problem. We really need to work hard in Zed and use all possible means and tools at our disposal (absinence, condoms, culture, churches, communities, work places,etc). It can be done. Look at Uganda, they are now down to about 4% prevalence rate from around 20%. We are all in it together, you are either infected or affected.
The key and answer is Sex Education especially in schools. Once the Stigma of raw sexual dialogue and education is overcome, much will have been accomplished as a first step.
#8 I respect your views but beg to differ. We’ve tried fighting HIV with the “morality” angle & it’s failed us miserably! Kafupi at one time even banned condom ads on ZNBC(yet he went on screwing peoples wives!). The Catholic Church to this day discourages use of condoms!(yet priests & nuns r dying of the same) this is madness comrades and will lead to our annihilation. #10 & #11 is correct, we need more sex ed in schools & more pragmatic solutions! ubuchende is not what’s killing us, it’s ignorance and the lack of practical preventative measures…
comrades, I’ve worked in parts of western Europe where the levels of ubuchende r unbelievable, yet their HIV prevalence is low, how come? well informed populace malume, u can have a 1 night stand with a complete stranger but she’ll have a condom in her purse! manje ise, ati nilibe condom, so it’s just to hammer 240V live!!! ignorance kills, info & knowledge will liberate u
the death of sport and other amenities in the social-ecomic sector of our country has contributed to the HIV pandemic.
I really think, girls and ladies of the 15 – 24 aged group are watching too much TV while their boys and gentlemen friends are studying seriously to secure a normal future for themselves. What is being shown on TV is highly convincing especially to young minds, and ladies particularly seem to be caught in a quagmire of lust to obtain latest technologies and fashion they watch on TV.
This in turn makes them fall for anything the promises rewards in terms of extra money to acquire this and that.
We will, all, do good by helping them to understand that they need to work hard in order for them to obtain things in a normal way.
I am beginning to think that a deliberate policy by our government to arrest, charge and sentence young people who are doing things only married people are supposed to do would certainly help curb this prevalence rate we are witnessing.
sex education needs to be introduced into the curriculum in schools.religion is not the answer…common sense is!! these kids WILL have sex so given that this is a certainty lets educate them to do it properly.if images of Aids victims are collected in a booklet and used as a teaching aid in schools we are likely to see demand for condoms rise.condoms must also be made more readily available i.e in toilets in nightclubs and bars.
#13, its true the levels of “sexing” in Europe,Asia & America is much higher than in Africa.STD’s are also much higher but they control the press and the true stats are never published.In Hollywood when a star starts wasting they call it “bulimia/anorexia/depression” change the colour of these stars and put them in Africa….its AIDS!!! we shouldn’t believe all these “cancer” stories coming out of Hollywood.Eastern Europe is ravaged by the virus too but better diet and health care hides it all.
in certain parts of Europe an STD is normal..in Africa have an STD and your appointment with Leopards Hill cemetery is confirmed!!The west are playing double standards with us.CAN SOMEONE JUST FIND A BLOODY CURE !!!
comrade Pundit, I respect your rationale my man(or is it mdm?), agree with point #16, not too sure ’bout #17 though. Various STI’s are indeed prevalent in the developed world incl a teen pregnancy catastrophe!, but I still believe HIV rates in particular r much lower, for whatever reason? My aunt is a nurse in one of the UK’s busiest hospital’s & she tells me our friends don’t have a “UTH E ward” scenario as compared to us. That said, we could learn alot 4rm what our friends in Uganda have achieved vis-a-vis significantly lowering infection rates. Our own Doc Manasseh Phiri is a gr8 advocate of pragmatic solutions, lets heed his call.
Tarantino#19, North Middlesex Hospital in North London has a block called T1…..FULL of SIDA patients…there about 3 huge hospitals in London,mon ami, with our equivalent of “UTH E ward”!!these hospitals are research and treatment centres.these are facts you will not find ANYWHERE and this is purposely done.One of these hospitals deals speceifically with Kaposi Sarcoma but that is disguised in the name “Cancer Unit”!!!as for teenage pregnancies…the council estates are littered with “baby” mums…but the govt. keeps a tight lid on the stats!!
the advent of the EU has increased the movement of people and with them the bug!!Just like the day passes at Nakonde hace increased the prevalence of SIDA in that area.these people just make a hulla baloo about Africa but behind closed doors they are battling the same and they will not alarm their citizens for fear of political fallout!!the keen interest they show in our progress is to transfer OUR ideas to help in their own fight!!
Original Pundit, thnks for the insights, food for thought indeed…! pandora’s box has been opened
#7, if the sexual retionships were only among the said age group, it would mean the ratio of young men to young women would be 1:4. To me that would mean one young man is infecting four young women. In such a scenario whose mindset needs training??
#23,in the jungle you educate the prey….the predators already know what they are doing !!
It would be advisable that Levy starts such noble education within his cabinet because it desperately needs this kind of message.
One version of a story I have heard is that, there are ‘some’ people who want to reduce the world population to ‘manageable’ numbers. To achieve this, they have ‘developed’ the HIV/AIDS virus to kill as many people as they can while withholding the cure. I have began to believe that this conspiracy could be true and I believe that man made poverty – unemployment – wars – capitalism – deseases are all linked, they are all part of the greater conspiracy of reducing the world population.
Listen friends! You propose a temporal sulution. Let me ask you this, 5 or 10 years ago, did most 15-24 year olds seek for sex outside marriege? NO! I agree that rubbers are a means to mask this problem but, conspiracy or ignorance the lasting cure lasts in:
NO SEX BEFORE OR OUTSIDE MARRIEGE.
The ‘climate change’ movement is also actively supporting the view that there is need to ‘reduce’population growth to save the planet. The question anyone should be asking themselves is, how do they plan to reduce this world population? May be through some man made virus like HIV?
Does anyone remember the immunization jabs in schools? apparently those contained ‘vaccines’ that were distroying our immune systems to expose us to viruses such as HIV to ‘speed’ up the infection rate of the virus. Apparently that is how the HIV/AIDS infection rate is higher in parts of Africa than any other part of the world thanks to the UN’s World Health Organisation (WHO) and our receptive gov’ts.
#29. This calls for UNZA and CBU to become serious with research, so that we will not use stuff that we don trust. Someone told me that I must never eat from a girl’s/lady’s room because I certainly don’t know what she will have already put in the food, even if the girl/lady is a church member.
At first I thought it was folly, but now I think we have to be careful with what the outside world brings for us to take on faith as best for us.
Anyone know anything about the 1990/1991 consumption of YELLOW MAIZE thingy in all this stuff?
# 24, this issue is not about animals!! We are discussing an issue affecting human beings!!!
we need some kind of a law in zambia were prostitutes will be arrested and charged for spreading the virus even the men folk who go after these girls/women should also be prosecuted.we also need a dress code for the women this idea of women moving with their buttocks outside is no good .for us men p/s remember not all that glitters is gold.
It is good that President Mwanawasa finally catches on that there is an HIV/AIDS problem in Zambia. As for #32, it is not the dress code for women that is the problem but that men need to get control of themselves. Men are largely responsible for spreading the virus, due to having multiple partners and taking advantage of women. If gender relations shifted so that women could have a more equal say in relationships, especially over the issue of sex, the infection rate would drop rapidly. Men need to quit blaming women for their problems and actually fix their own corrupt behaviour.
-Older men need to stop going after little girls and teenagers.
-Most men sleep around and think about sex all the time (we can deny it all we want), so all married people should make an effort to use condoms.
-Women need to clean up their dress code. Men get excited when they see certain body parts, so please cover up nicely. You can try in vain to change men’s thoughts when they see half naked women, or you can cover up in a decent manner.
-Poverty: Makes it hard for for both men and women to resist going into prostitution. They have to eat and pay bills.
#31, it was an analogy !!!
zVIuWt
when are we going the have the cure for HIV/AIDS ? we are living on an age with very high technology but still we have not found a cure for this disease.