Nyusi calls for effective prevention of HIV/AIDS, stresses importance of national languages to transmit messages

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Nyusi calls for effective prevention of HIV/AIDS, stresses importance of national languages to transmit messages

5:38 CAT | 01 Dec 2016

File photo / Filipe Nyusi

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Thursday called for the spread of effective messages of prevention against HIV/AIDS in order to achieve the target of no new HIV infections in Mozambique by 2030.

He was speaking in Maputo at a ceremony to mark World AIDS Day, commemorated around the globe on 1 December every year.

Nyusi stressed that this year the technical conditions have been established to ensure that around 90 per cent of people living with HIV will have access to the live-prolonging anti-retroviral treatment.

The great challenge, he added, is to ensure that all those diagnosed with HIV have access to treatment, and stay on the anti-retroviral drug regime.

“In recent years, Mozambique has made progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS”, said Nyusi. “New infections fell by 25 per cent from 2011 to 2013”.

There had also been substantial reduction in “vertical transmission” – that is, transmission of the virus from an HIV-positive pregnant woman to her unborn child.

Despite these advances, said the President, a lot remained to be done to meet the target of no new infection by 2030. Leadership at all levels, including religious and traditional leaders, as well as traditional healers, he added, had a determinant role to play by transmitting clear messages on how to fight against the disease.

He stressed the importance of using local languages to transmit messages, adding that basic education on how to avoid HIV infection should be given to young people inside their families.

Speaking on behalf of the government’s partners, the United Nations resident coordinator, Marcia de Castro, guaranteed continued international support for the fight against HIV/AIDS. Mozambican health units, she added, are capable of providing the care that HIV-positive people need.

“Our greatest concern is that new infections are occurring mostly in young people aged between 15 and 19”, she said.

The latest national statistics on HIV/AIDS indicate that 11.5 per cent of Mozambicans aged between 15 and 49 are HIV-positive. However, this figure comes from the national prevalence survey of 2009, and there has been no more recent comprehensive survey.