Nyusi urges no violence against people living with HIV

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Nyusi urges no violence against people living with HIV

5:23 CAT | 01 Dec 2017

frelimo-org (File photo) / President Nyusi speaking at World AIDS Day 2016

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Friday urged Mozambicans to condemn and fight against any form of violence or discrimination against citizens living with HIV and AIDS.

Speaking in Maputo at a ceremony to mark World AIDS Day, Nyusi said “People with HIV are being excluded. They suffer psychological and sometimes physical violence. This is unacceptable! We must all condemn discrimination against HIV-positive people”.

He noted that the conditions exist now so that, thanks to anti-retroviral therapy, no Mozambican needs to die of AIDS, and no child needs to be born with HIV transmitted from their mothers. Nonetheless, many children remain vulnerable, because one or both of their parents have died of AIDS.

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“We are talking about orphans”, said Nyusi. “More than two million Mozambican children are orphans. Of this number, 800,000 are orphans because of HIV. We have to stop the spread of HIV. It is time to act, and to act together”.

Nyusi expressed his concern at the high rate of HIV prevalence, and the large number of HIV-related deaths. The latest statistics available indicate that 13.2 per cent of Mozambicans aged between 15 and 49 are HIV-positive.

“The data show that last year 62,000 people died because of HIV”, the President said. “The most recent data show that there are about 1.9 million people living with HIV. That means that one in every eight adults is living with HIV”.

Nyusi said he is concerned that large numbers of young people, particularly girls, are still unaware of the methods to prevent HIV infection.

This lack of knowledge was still sharper in the countryside, he said. He cited the latest survey which showed that in Zambezia, Cabo Delgado and Gaza provinces only two out of every ten young people were able to answer fully questions about HIV.

Nyusi also took the opportunity to urge people receiving anti-retroviral drugs not to abandon the treatment. This is dangerous because it can lead to resistance to the drugs.

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Keeping people on the treatment has been a major challenge, he said. Only 69 per cent of patients kept taking the drugs after 12 months. “We have to locate and work with the others who have abandoned the treatment”, he urged.

Source: AIM