'Keeping the promise' at St Theresa's
St. Theresa's Hospital at Chirimhanzu is an example of the sort of partnership needed to be able to defeat HIV and AIDS said Dr Evarist Njelesani, the World Health Organisation representative in Zimbabwe, when he spoke on behalf of the United Nations (UN), at the World AIDS Campaign launch at the hospital on December 1.
St. Theresa's has had long involvement in HIV prevention and care and was one of the first sites to roll out anti-retroviral therapy in Zimbabwe. It partners with the Zimbabwe Association of Church Hospitals, the National AIDS Council (NAC), the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare (MOHCW), international non government organisations (NGOs) such as PACT and the Canadian International Development Agency and the US Centers of Disease Control.
This year's World AIDS campaign theme 'Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise' focuses on the commitment to partnerships against AIDS.
Dr Njelesani pledged the UN' s continued support to NAC, the MOHCW and other government bodies to build a grand alliance against AIDS. All had a part to play he said, non-governmental, community and faith-based organizations, international donors, business, the media and people living with HIV or AIDS.
He particularly commended the organisers for ensuring that people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) had a prominent role in the day's program.
Dr Njelesani outlined positive developments in the fight against HIV in Zimbabwe. He noted need for action to accelerate to decline in the rates of HIV infection. He also applauded the new and ground-breaking HIV policies released by religious organisations on addressing harmful cultural practices and behaviours that spread the virus.
He also recognised the implementation of new plans, programmes and strategies such as those on orphans and vulnerable children, home based care, prevention of mother (parent) to child transmission and the anti-retroviral therapy rollout. All of these are being brought together in a new National Strategic Framework 2006-2011.
'Only with the active engagement of us all, political and community leaders, donors, the UN, NGOs, PLWHA, service providers can we ensure that promises and commitments are kept'.
As part of the campaign the UN will ensure that the international community is held accountable to the promises they have made. UN agencies will work together as a team and more closely with its partners Dr Njelesani emphasised.
'The UN is committed to working to ensure that those who deal with the human side of the pandemic on a daily basis, the ill, the people living positively, the children, orphans and families and all of the other myriad of people in the community touched by the virus get the best and most efficient possible support and access to drugs.'
Reflecting positively on the increase in external assistance such as that coming from the Global Fund, Dr Njelesani said that everybody needed to ensure that the money was put to the best use so that communities such as Chirimhanzu see the benefits of it.
He also reiterated the promise made by the UN Secretary General made last year that the UN would address the reasons why in countries of Southern Africa, including Zimbabwe, girls are up to four times more likely to be HIV positive than boys, and orphaned girls are three times more likely to contract HIV than their non-orphaned peers.
The UN Country Team in Zimbabwe has been supporting the National Taskforce on Women, Girls and HIV and AIDS to develop a National Plan of Action. This plan will have specific action and recommendations on girls' education; gender based violence; females' property and inheritance rights; the role of women and girls in caring for those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS; prevention issues and access to HIV and AIDS related care and treatment for women and girls.
In concluding the UN speaker encouraged people to read the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS made by the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV in 2001 which was signed by 160 countries including Zimbabwe.
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