FIRST Lady Thandiwe Banda has said that Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS is the surest way of saving humanity from extinction.

Speaking at the official opening of the Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA), Mrs Banda said Africa should not continue to lose more lives when it was able do something.

"We have chosen to go the preventive way, for we all believe that to prevent infants from contracting the virus is the surest way of saving humanity from extinction," she said.

Mrs Banda said the workshop under the theme "Maternity Protection as a Preventive and Care Strategy Against Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV" was being held under a strategy to capture the virus at the source.

She said that the workshop which had attracted first ladies from neighbouring countries demonstrated the collective zeal to build bridges across borders in order to arrive at a common destination.

Facts, figures and statistics about HIV/AIDS, no longer made news because the scourge had been around for more than two decades.

Mrs Banda said the world should accept the reality of HIV/AIDS which was a positive indicator of dealing with the stigma associated with the disease because a lot of money had been pumped in to find a lasting solution.

She also commended the media for consistency in writing on issues related to HIV/AIDS and that, they had been great and loyal soldiers in the fight against the disease.

She challenged the media to help champion the cause of maternity protection as a preventive measure because there was need for concerted efforts to reduce or eliminate the transmission of HIV/AIDS to infants.

She said while OAFLA was ready to learn about means and ways of speeding up the ratification of Convention 183 of 2000 on maternity protection, the issue was also for employers, governments and the labour movement.

OAFLA president and Ethiopian first Lady Woizero Azeb Mesfin commended her Zambian counterpart for hosting the workshop at a regional level as it would strengthen the organisation's effectiveness.

Mrs Mesfin said during the last five years, OAFLA member countries had been working on increasing the uptake of PMTCT because almost 90 per cent of infections from mother-to-child occurred in Africa.

She said that the role of OAFLA was to ensure that member countries took opportunities to increase awareness and commitment to bring all stakeholders together to ensure that no child in Africa was born with the virus.

National Aids Council (NAC) director Ben Chirwa commended the African first ladies for joining the cause on PMTC because it had made a difference in Zambia from the time it was introduced.

United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNPFA) country representative Duah Owusu-Sarfo said that although first ladies had no official positions in government, they were influential in decision making.

The workshop was also attended by South African first lady Nompumelelo Zuma, a representative of Namibian first lady Penehupifo Pohamba, former Zambian first ladies Vera Tembo and Maureen Mwanawasa.