28 November 2008
Maputo — Mozambique's Health Minister, Ivo Garrido, reiterates the need for a coordinated efforts among Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries for achieving the desired success in the fight against HIV/AIDS pandemic which affects millions of people in the region.
According to Garrido, the response against HIV/AIDS does not depend on isolated actions carried out by each country in the region to mitigate the impact of the disease, but on collective and coordinated actions.
"There is no national response against HIV/AIDS, but of all countries in the region", said Garrido, stressing the willingness of the Mozambican government to work in coordination with other governments in the region in the search for a common ground in the fight against the disease.
The minister was speaking this Thursday, in Maputo at the opening of the First Regional Workshop of the Southern Africa Miners Association, taking place under the theme "The Miners are capable enough to defeat HIV/AIDS pandemic through awareness".
Currently, HIV/AIDS affects 16 percent of the 20 million adult population in Mozambique.
The meeting, organized by the Mozambique's Miners Association (AMIMO) in partnership with country's Government and other cooperation partners, seeks to draw a common strategy for joint actions in the prevention of HIV/AIDS, and streamline the messages used on miner's awareness campaigns.
On the occasion, Garrido established a comparison between SADC member countries with passengers in the same ship battling with the wrath of a ferocious storm. "They must either seek a common solution to the storm, or run the risk of being buried in the seabed", stressed Garrido.
Garrido noted, therefore, the need to coordinate efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS by each individual country, and later to regional level.
Meanwhile, National AIDS Councils in the region should also coordinate their actions that will culminate with a regional conference of Heads of State and Governments and Miners Associations in the region to address the matter.
The Minister listed two issues that provide a fertile ground for the spread of HIV/AIDS within the miner's community, being the first lack of health education for a better understanding of the risks posed by the disease.
The second, according to Garrido, deals with measures taken to begin treatment as soon as the miner is diagnosed HIV positive.
For this reason, the minister sustains the need for more counselling journeys and mass testing.
The miners families, says Garrido, should also be included in these initiatives as, in most cases, are direct victims of the disease.
Indeed, the most recent epidemiological survey carried out by Mozambique's Health Ministry shows that the southern province of Gaza has the highest rate of HIV prevalence, 27 percent. Gaza also has the largest number people working in the gold mines in South Africa, followed by Inhambane, also in the southern region.
The last epidemiological survey shows that wives and children of the miners are dying massively and, the same trend is seen in other countries in the region.
Therefore, there must be coordinated efforts, because no country will bar its citizens from travelling to other countries, unless there is a dictatorship.
For his part, AMIMO's Chairperson, Moses Uamusse, said there is a need to review the agreements for miner's recruitment to reduce the distance with their families.
The meeting of AMIMO comes at a time when the international community prepares to mark World AIDS Day on December 1st.
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