HEALTH Minister, Kapembwa Simbao has asked striking unionised health workers to resume work because the Government is still negotiating for conditions of service with their labour unions.

Mr Simbao said in Lusaka yesterday that the nurses should exercise patience and resume work because the Government and their labour movement were keen to conclude the talks on time.

The minister was speaking to journalists shortly before the official opening of Cabinet committee of ministers' retreat on HIV/AIDS organised to review progress in the national response on HIV/AIDS.

"These people should stop this strike and go back to the wards. No one is saying no to the negotiations and I do not see a reason why the nurses would decide to down tools when the Government is still on the table with their union leaders...

"Life is one precious gift a person has on earth and it would be wrong for the nurses to rob innocent people out of their precious gift," Mr Simbao said

He said it was a pity nurses had abandoned work when the Government and the labour movement was discussing the conditions of services with health workers.

On the retreat, Mr Simbao said Zambia had made commendable progress in the provision of antiretroviral therapy (ART) with more than 200,000 people on treatment.

Officially opening the meeting, Mr Simbao said steady increase of children accessing ART had been noted from seven per cent to 20 per cent and the country had achieved 100 per cent screening of blood through the National Blood Transfusion Service.

Mr Simbao, however, said that the mid term review of the national response to HIV/ADIS as outlined in the National AIDS strategic framework pointed to emerging issues which needed to be addressed to respond effectively to the epidemic.

He said issues to be addressed included multiple concurrent partnership, low circumcision levels coupled with low condom use, low levels of comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS and the youth and high levels of alcohol consumption.

Acting United Nations resident coordinator, Recalde Pablo said there was need to scale up the prevention, mitigation and treatment of HIV/AIDS if it was to be reduced.

Mr Pablo said prevention, mitigation and treatment were components that needed to be used as one for Zambia to reach its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) number six on combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other related disease.