Mozambique: BCI brings smiles to mothers and children admitted to provincial hospitals
File photo
Eighteen in every 100 people in the Mocuba district live with the Aids virus, a situation that worries government officials. Various communication strategies for behaviour change are being implemented to counter the trend.
Figures presented by the permanent district secretary, Titos Alcides, indicate that the current seroprevalence rate is 18 percent, the highest in Zambezia province, which has 15 percent overall.
Economic and geo-strategic location may be contributing to the increase in new infections. Mocuba district is crossed by National Road Number One (EN1) and is a corridor to countries further inland, and for three years the city has experienced unusually high movement of national and foreign citizens of various nationalities.
A recent study by the Higher Institute of Management, Commerce and Finance in Mocuba indicates that the district, and especially its headquarters village, has become a centre for prostitution involving teenagers and young women in recent years.
Alcides says that Mocuba currently has 22 health units, all of them providing antiretroviral treatment and supported by international organisations such as ICAP and Word Vision in their efforts at identifying, treating and counselling people living with HIV/Aids.
Given the current pandemic in the district, Zambezia governor Abdul Razak says the disease requires a new human behaviour paradigm, and everyone has a responsibility to reduce new infections and provide moral and psychological support to those affected.
Razak appealed to patients who had already started antiretroviral treatment not to abandon it because, as he pointed out, it was an opportunity to prolong life.
He further regretted the fact that there were 13-year-olds already infected with the disease, urging conformity with campaigns to circumcise boys. The governor also encouraged girls to seek more information from counselling offices in order to avoid contamination.
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.