Maputo — The representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Mozambique, Solange Kuou Epa, said on Wednesday that an effective struggle against HIV/AIDS must involve both preventive programmes, and care for those already infected with the virus.
Speaking in Maputo, at the opening of a seminar on "Strengthening Health Sector Intervention in the fight against HIV/AIDS", she said that, given the seriousness of the situation, increasing the number of preventive programmes and providing more effective care were the best way of fighting the epidemic and minimising its effects.
It was in this context that the WHO and the Italian government launched in 2001 an innovative initiative to strengthen work against HIV/AIDS in the health sector of 10 African countries, including Mozambique.
Representatives from all ten of these countries are attending the Maputo seminar, the purpose of which is to draw up a balance sheet of the activities undertaken so far. The ten countries benefitting from the Italian initiative are Mozambique, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Angola, Rwanda, Swaziland, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Each of the countries is receiving 500,000 US dollars a year to implement projects under the initiative, which is scheduled to last for two years.
Kuou Epa said that, in the 18 months it has been in existence, the initiative has succeeded in strengthening the services dedicated to combatting HIV/AIDS in some countries, by increasing the number of interventions, by taking the struggle into rural areas, and by building up the capacity of health professionals, particularly at district level. But the WHO representative warned that, without financial aid for multiplying initiatives in the fight against AIDS, "the epidemic will continue to intensify, and devastate countries' economies and cultures". The battle against AIDS is one of the major challenges that the African continent faces, said Kuou Epa. And despite the many strategies and interventions on the disease, HIV/AIDS was continuing to sweep through Africa.
Kuou Epa stressed that, of the 3.2 million people believed to have died of AIDS in 2002, 95 per cent were African. She though it important that "health systems be strengthened so as to cope with the growing demands put upon them by the epidemic", and to maintain the impetus being given by the Italian initiative.
Speaking to AIM, the Coordinator of the Italian Initiative in Mozambique, Rolanda Manuel, said that implementation in the country began in July 2001, but actions undertaken so far have been limited to epidemiological vigilance campaigns, establishing Counselling and Voluntary Testing Offices, home care for people living with the disease, and measures to prevent the transmission of HIV from mothers to their babies.
Manuel said that "currently there is a rapid dynamic of infection and spread of the disease in Mozambique, and the initiative is an opportunity to reduce the demand on the country's health units, since between 40 and 70 per cent of hospital beds are occupied by people suffering from AIDS or AIDS- related illnesses".
Currently the initiative is being implemented in the central province of Sofala, particularly in the districts of Dondo, Nhamatanda and Buzi.
Mozambique has an HIV prevalence rate of over 12 per cent, in people aged between 15 and 49. It is thought that about 1.4 million Mozambicans are currently infected.
The ten countries benefitting from the Italian Initiative have a total population of 146 million, of whom eight million are living with HIV. Official data indicates that in 2001 AIDS killed around 730,000 people in these countries, thus becoming the largest single cause of mortality.
