Economic Logistics

By Thabile Masuku, observer.org.sz

GOVERNMENT this year spent E21 million on the procurement of Anti-Retroviral drugs.

Ministry of Health and Social Welfare Under Secretary Sikelela Dlamini, speaking yesterday on behalf of Principal Secretary Nomathemba Dlamini during a consultative meeting for the HIV, AIDS Prevention and Care (HAPAC) programme, said government had repeatedly shown commitment in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

He said the commitment was not lip-service but came with increased resource allocation such as the E21 million.

Dlamini said in 2001, a financing agreement was entered into between government and the European Commission, aimed at reducing the rate of HIV transmission in Swaziland, as well as developing programmes for provision of home-based care to people living with the virus.

Recommendations

He also highlighted recommendations and comments from past consultative meetings, where it was suggested that specific groups, particularly the youth, be targetted and the importance of mobilising the community for Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) emphasised.

“It was also noted that VCT is also very critical in influencing behavioural change, especially among the youth and other vulnerable groups,” he added.

Furthermore, Dlamini said the burden on Rural Health Motivators (RHMs) was realised. The need to train community care-givers to ensure the sick have somebody to care for them was also observed.

“We commend RHMs for the work they do and urge them to continue doing so. However, because of their many responsibilities in promoting health among communities it is important to leave care-giving duties with the family. It is worth noting that the RHM will remain the external care-giver,” said Dlamini.

Concerned

He added that as far as they were concerned, past consultative meetings were very successful in bringing together most key players in the support and implementation of VCT, home-based care, and STI care services.

“Important lessons were learnt in the HAPAC programme that will enhance its success,” he added.

He thanked the European Commission for considering government’s request for a new project under the HAPAC programme for the year 2006 to 2008.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 18th, 2005 at 5:43 pm and is filed under Procurement, Africa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.