First Lady Maureen Mwanawasa has urged African First Ladies to use their positions to ensure that their respective countries and the continent achieve set goals in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
Mrs. Mwanawasa said when she officially opened the Organisation of African First Ladies Against AIDS (OAFLA) meeting at Sharm EL Sheikh, Egypt today that there was need to put great emphasis on individual responsibility and leadership in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
She said this in a speech read on her behalf by her Senior Private Secretary Florence Chawelwa at OAFLA meeting at Sharm EL Sheikh International Congress Centre.
Mrs. Mwanawasa is the outgoing OAFLA President, the position she had held since 2006 when she was elected.
She said as leaders, African first ladies should promote change and be torch bearers in the fight against the pandemic.
Mrs. Mwanawasa said first ladies should not be seen to be giving up at the time when they should be upping their efforts to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS.
She revealed that over one million people on the continent were on Anti Retroviral Drugs (ARVs) and that young people accounted for more than half of new HIV infections.
Mrs. Mwanawasa explained that youths were particularly vulnerable to HIV infections partly due to lack of emotional and psychological maturity needed to make good decisions.
“They are also susceptible to peer pressure, vulnerable to sexual coercion and do not have proper access to health information and care,” Mrs. Mwanawasas said.
She however said that OAFLA, through its HIV/AIDS campaigns in Africa, has contributed to the reduction of new HIV infections among the youth.
She said the HIV/AIDS campaigns have also reminded adults to mend the social fabric that should be protecting children in the communities.
Mrs. Mwanawasa also said that OAFLA agreed to focus its HIV/AIDS interventions around the prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) through the “Save the Unborn Child First Ladies Campaign”.
She said the campaign encouraged women to take control of their reproductive health and move towards giving birth to a generation free of HIV/AIDS.
Mrs. Mwanawasa noted that the prevention of the HIV virus from mother to child was an important cornerstone of prevention strategies that the world was talking about today because it gave hope for the future free of HIV.
The first lady said in all the countries where the campaign has been launched, there has been marked improvement in the numbers of pregnant women going for VCT as well as those accessing ARVs.
She OAFLA wanted to manage HIV/AIDS and reduce the number of children being orphaned by focusing HIV/AIDS interventions on mothers.
“However, to achieve more, we need to further intensify our fight against stigma and discrimination of people living with the virus,” the first lady said.
Mrs. Mwanawasa said stigma and discrimination was the cause of death in many women living with the virus because of the negative tag attached to the infected person.
She said in addition to the campaign, OAFLA Secretariat had developed a partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to promote the new Female Condom.
She said UNFPA was willing to work with OAFLA at national and regional levels in areas ready to launch the female condom.
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Kabinga Pande told ZANIS in a statement in Egypt last night that the president is in Hospital for high blood pressure.
“I wish to inform the nation that today, the 29th June 2008, his Excellency the President of the Republic of Zambia, Dr. Patrick Levy Mwanawasa, State Council, has been admitted to the Sharm EL Sheikh International Hospital for high blood pressure,” Mr. Pande said.
Dr. Mwanawasa is in Egypt attending the 11th Ordinary African Union Heads of State summit in the resort city of Sharm EL Sheikh.
He said the nation would be up dated on the condition of the president from time to time.
ZANIS/MB/AM/ENDS
I thought the word “said” refers to utterances made by someone using their mouth and not read by someone else on their behalf.
“… Dr. Patrick Levy Mwanawasa, State Council,…” must read “… Dr. Patrick Levy Mwanawasa, State Counsel,…” please.
High Blood Pressure or Stroke..which is it Kabinga?
Whatever
Maureen must get back to her husband and make him relax instead of running around like a headless chicken. She must understand that LPM’s 2nd stroke is now final warning that the next one will not be a joke. She must leave all these things with health, social matters to the relevant ministries in her husband’s government and cabinet. She is adding on to her husband’s stress levels since the ministers who are responsible for health matters such as HIV must be stressing her hubby due to her overstepping her responsibilities from being a wife to a spearheading a vital health issue of modern days, HIV/AIDS.
SOME NGOS SUCH AS OAFLA/MMCI AND THE ONE BY DR KAUNDA ARE JUST RUBBISH. THE KAUNDA ONE HAS NOT DONE ANYTHING SINCE ITS INCEPTION BUT THE FOUNDER JUST LIKES GLOBE TROTTING FOR NOTHING. KAUNDA IS NOW MORE OF A TOURIST THAN ANYTHING ELSE. THE MANDELA ONE AT LEAST IS MAKING A NOTICEABLE IMPACT. JUST LIKE MY LECTURER ONCE SAID ” WHAT MORE IS THERE TO BE DISCOVERED ABOUT AIDS APART FROM A CURE” BUT YOU FIND THESE NGOS STILL HOLDING WORKSHOPS ON THE IMPACT OF HIV/AIDS WHAT NONSENSE. LET THESE SPOUSES GO BACK TO THE KITCHEN AND PREPARE HEALTH FOODS FOR THEIR HUSBANDS RATHER THAN TRYING TO BORE US WITH THEIR MORIBUND NGOS. AND WHY SHOULD THEIR MEETINGS BE COINCIDING WITH SERIOUS GATHERINGS SUCH AS AU
….CTD
MEETINGS. DOESNT THIS OAFLA THING HAVE ENOUGH RESOURCES TO ORGANISE AN INDEPENDENT GATHERING AWAY FROM MEETINGS WHERE HUSBANDS ARE DISUSSING SERIOUS ISSUES.
#5&6 Stoping shouting, mind you we are deaf we can hear you even when you wisper!
The above should ‘read stop shouting, mind you we are not deaf we can hear you even when you wisper’!
8 what do you mean. Kindly break it down for me
Muzungu,
Typing in Upper case/Capital letters on the web or in emails is generally referred to as SHOUTING!
thanks for the insight i appreciate