BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE– The Minister of Tinkhundla Administration and Development David ‘Cruiser’ Ngcamphalala has come to say the government is taking reasonable strides towards combating HIV/AIDS in the country.
He said this after the National Emergency Response Council on HIV and AIDS (NERCHA) reported that there were 10 identified Tinkhundla that were extreme drivers of HIV. This was revealed during the media forum hosted by NERCHA on Tuesday at Ezulwini Happy Valley Hotel.
Ngcamphalala said although HIV remained a pandemic worldwide, Eswatini had made impressionable strides in ending and curbing the disease. He said he was impressed with the large number of activities and services that are in progress in response to the epidemic. Undeniably, this was evidence of the increased momentum of the national response.
In addition to that, he said there was however an enormous challenge ahead of everyone because HIV ‘Yindzaba yetfu sonkhe’.
“We are yet to see a stabilisation of HIV prevalence or evidence of a reduction in new infection rates. That will be the primary evidence that the tide has turned to date, the national response to HIV and AIDS has been guided by the health sector policy document on HIV/AIDS and STI Prevention and Control of 1998,” he said.
“When unpacking the policy he said the policy focused primarily on the health sector response to the epidemic. It is now an accepted principle that HIV and AIDS is not just a health issue but a major development concern, reversing the development gains achieved by the country over the past 30 years. In view of the need to involve all stakeholders in the national response the country has adopted the multi-sectoral approach in responding to HIV and AIDS,” he said.
He further highlighted that in the said Tinkhundla there were accessible services like testing clinics, counselors and organisations that provide sexual reproductive health. The Government has further established NERCHA to coordinate and facilitate the national multisectoral response to the epidemic.
“The country’s response is further guided by the international principles of the ‘Three Ones’: one Coordinating Body, one Strategic Plan and one Monitoring and Evaluation framework. Alignment to these principles has galvanised stronger partnerships in the response,” he said.
This publication recently published that the United States of America (USA) President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Ambassador Dr. John Nkengasong highlighted Eswatini’s tremendous progress toward ending HIV as a public health threat by 2030.
He was speaking at the opening of the annual PEPFAR joint planning meeting; the Ambassador mentioned that one of the strategies Eswatini used was, increasing the number of people who know their HIV status by diagnosing HIV infection as early as possible, promoting routine testing within health care facilities and scaling up testing options in nonclinical settings.
Echoing these sentiments was Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi who revealed that to confront one of the most severe HIV epidemics in the world, Eswatini used data-driven approaches to increase the number of persons tested for HIV, adopted ‘test and treat’ for rapid initiation of ART for persons testing HIV-positive, and enhanced national capacity for viral load testing to monitor the response to ART.
