18 June 2008
Maputo — Civil society organizations working in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Mozambique have expressed their commitment to contribute to harmonise all national strategies against this pandemic.
The commitment was given at the end of the first National Civil Society Conference on HIV/AIDS, that ended on Monday.
Though complaining that they have been excluded from the designing of plans for the fight against this disease, the civil society bodies said that they are prepared to join other organizations working in this field and harmonise the national strategies, because it is clear that this work does indeed need a multi-sector approach.
According to Alice Ripanga, the chairperson of the Mozambican National Network of Organizations against AIDS (MONASO), civil society is also committed to contributing to a more effective assessment of the national response to the epidemic.
'We are committed to establishing effective mechanisms to share good practices in the fight against HIV/AIDS and to guarantee greater coordination between activists and the media in divulging information among the communities', she said.
Participants at the conference admitted that negative cultural factors are a constraint hindering an effective response to AIDS. This includes traditional ceremonies to "purify' widows, a euphemism which hides a form of rape. The widow is "purified" by being obliged to have unprotected sex with a relative of her late husband.
The participants also argued that poverty, illiteracy and a poor capacity to persuade people to change their behaviour are the major factors that contribute to the spread of HIV.
Some of the participants reiterated that their organizations will no longer work in an isolated manner. "There will be a growing culture of sharing good practices and experiences", they promised.
They said that strategies are to be designed from the grass roots upwards, which means starting from people directly affected by the epidemic.
"Thus, civil society will feel more committed to implement those strategies because they will reflect what people think and feel. It is civil society that knows what is happening in the field', claimed Marcelo Kantu, of the Mozambican Association for Family Development (AMODEFA).
The four day conference gathered more than 600 people from all provinces across the country and representatives of ten regional and international organizations, who work in partnership with MONASO.
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