Global Policy Forum

Joe Nkadaani

ZAMBIA has been given a US $192 million grant by the Global Fund aimed at fighting HIV/AIDS, National HIV/AIDS Council acting director Dr. Rosemary Musonda has said. In an interview yesterday at the Zambia AIDSlaw Research and Advocacy (ZARAD) and Zambia Health Education and Communications Trust (ZHECT) symposium, Dr. Musonda said the money would be used by Central Board of Health (CBOH), churches and non governmental organisations involved in the fight against AIDS for the next five years.

"The next five years would be challenging and I am proud to announce that we have received a grant amounting to $192 million for the prevention and care in the fight against HIV/AIDS," she said.

Dr. Musonda said the effect of HIV/AIDS in companies had been very devastating. She said a lot of man-hours were lost in companies because of the increase in the HIV/AIDS infections. She said government should encourage small and big companies to start implementing the National AIDS Policy to ensure that their employees are health. "As you may well know the effect is terrible in companies and there is a serious loss of productivity because workers have to spend more time at home caring for their loved ones or attending a funeral," she said.

Dr. Musonda said government and civil society should join hands and fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic in a multi-sectoral approach. She said government alone was incapable of winning the fight and therefore called on the private companies to join in the fight by implementing the HIV/AIDS national policy in the workplace.

Dr. Musonda said companies were spending a lot of money in providing health care and funerals for their sick employees. And ZARAD representative Tom Mzumara said government should take a leading role in the provision of antiretroviral drugs (ARV) to people living with HIV/AIDS. Mzumara said government should also enact legislation or amend the existing ones to provide health care and support, including drugs at a minimal or no cost at all to the poor and vulnerable in society. He said government should also overhaul the social security regime currently prevailing as it was not effective in meeting the needs of the those in need.

He said the national policy should also spell out government's role in the provision of ARV drugs over who would benefit from the drugs and who would be allowed to die. "What criteria is government going to use to receive these drugs and who will be allowed to die?" he said.

He said compulsory testing of individuals by some organizations was unethical and should be condemned. Mzumara said people should be educated to make them understand what they were being tested for and the possible implications of the testing. And ZHECT program manager Marcel Musengu said a number of companies were reluctant to implement the HIV/AIDS policy.

He said a lot of organizations thought that implementation of the AIDS policy would automatically mean the provision of finances which he said was not the case. He said even a number of members of parliament lacked personal motivation in the fight against AIDS in their constituencies. He said he had invited a number of members of parliament to work out strategies that would be implemented to help reduce the number of infections of AIDS at constituency level but very few responded to the call.

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