6 July 2009
THE Copperbelt Province has steadily continued recording a tremendous reduction in the HIV/AIDS prevalence rates over the past one year, provincial AIDS Taskforce (PATF) co-ordinator, Violet Mutinta.
Ms Mutinta attributed the reduction to various interventions by the Government and other stakeholders, which are being implemented at district and provincial levels.
And Copperbelt Province is said to be one of the highest provinces in condom consumption in the country.
Ms Mutinta said the province had continued to record tremendous reduction in the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate over the past one year.
She said the prevalence rate had dropped from 23 per cent to 17, adding that the situation had given her hope that in the near future, the province would just record a single digit rate.
Ms Mutinta said it was not easy for a big province like the Copperbelt to reduce HIV/AIDS infection rate by six per cent just in a short period of time.
"I am happy to confirm to you that our province is steadily recording a tremendous reduction in the prevalence of the infection rate in HIV/AIDS just over one year.
"As at now, we are saying that the HIV/AIDS rate is at 17 per cent. Previously, it was at 23.
"So as a province, we have tried and I hope in the near future, we shall be able to record a single digit," Ms Mutinta said.
She said on the Copperbelt, many Government ministries and other stakeholders such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the church had been working together in implementing strategies to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Ms Mutinta said Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) was one of the key strategies, and a lot of VCT sites had been introduced in the province.
She said Copperbelt Province was the only area with the highest number of VCT sites, totaling 148.
"I think we are the only province in Zambia which have the largest number of VCTs.
"We have 148 sites and these sites are helping a lot in making people who undergo counseling and testing to acquire enough knowledge on the disease and once they come from there, they become changed persons," Mrs Mutinta said.
On condom use, she said statistics from all the districts in the province had shown that over the past one year, there was an increase in condom consumption in many districts on the Copperbelt.
She attributed the increase to the knowledge that people who went for VCT acquired once they had been counselled over the disease.
Ms Mutinta said the easier accessibility of condoms by many people had in return helped to reduce the infection rate of the pandemic in the province.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 The Times of Zambia. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
