Malawi holds first HIV test week

July 15, 2006.

By Edward Kankhomba

The National Aids Commission says the week offers an opportunity to over 50,000 people to know their HIV status by the end of the week and facilitate change in risk behaviour and link persons to other HIV and AIDS services.

Malawi is still grappling with one of the most devastating HIV and AIDS epidemics in this part of Africa. In the past few years Malawi has expanded and accelerated its response and has been able to diversify both interventions and organizations participating in this response. With advent of treatment and programmes to prevent vertical transmission of HIV testing has become a major part of the prevention and care continuum.
However,Director of policy and Programing in the National Aids Commission (NAC) Roy Hauya said a lot more work needs to be done in testing. We know that of its 10 million people, of which 6 million are sexually active, only 15 percent have tested for HIV and know their status.
In a statement released to all media houses,Hauya said Malawi has 930,000 people that are living with HIV, but the majority are unaware of their HIV status. "This situation poses a great threat to prevention efforts and results in missed opportunities by many HIV infected Malawians to access care and support services", He said.
The National AIDS Commission, Ministry of Health, development partners and non-governmental organizations have organized a National HIV Testing Week from 17th to 22nd July 2006 to benefit many Malawians who have not tested for HIV.
The Commission said the event is expected to mobilize all communities and offer individuals and couples an opportunity to test for HIV and be counselled. The activity has been designed in line with the National HIV and AIDS Policy and it contributes significantly to the implementation of the national efforts at scaling HIV testing and counselling and to achieve the goal of testing one million people by the end of 2007.
Hauya said the week among other things offers an opportunity to over 50,000 people to know their HIV status by the end of the week and facilitate change in risk behaviour and link persons to other HIV and AIDS services
The campaign will target men, women and young people of reproductive age group 15-49 years. Youths and married couples in this age group will particularly be encouraged to test. However, access for those aged above 49 years or children below 14 years will not be limited. According to policy, children below 14 years will be allowed to test if accompanied by a guardian and they give consent.
HIV testing sites have been set up to take an increased number of clients. Additional counsellors have been trained and mobilized and all supplies, notably rapid testing kits, have been distributed to districts. There are currently 239 such sites countrywide, but depending on demand each district will set up additional outreach or mobile sites at places like markets, schools, churches or mosques. All testing sites will be required to meet minimum operational and infection prevention standards. At the same time each site will make referrals for management and further support as need be.
Assemblies, district health offices civil society organizations will mobilize all trained counsellors to work full time during the entire week. Currently there are 963 trained HIV counsellors nationwide, 543 of them working full time and 420 on part time. Testing will be voluntary and anonymous. Those testing positive will be linked to available post-test care and support services within their districts.
It is expected that even after the campaign all sites will continue providing full time services to serve those who were not able to access the services. This will take care of negative clients who may have been in the window period and wish to be re-tested after three months.
While this national testing and week is the first of its kind in Malawi, the plan is to make the event annual in order to continue to mobilize communities and to give opportunity to individuals and couples to know their HIV status.

Source:// African News Dimension

AIDS council in Zambia calls for more voluntary counseling

Zinhua, June 30, 2006

Zambia: An official with Zambia's National AIDS Council (NAC) has called on people to go for Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) bemoaning the current level of testing rates for HIV in the country is too low to sufficiently combat the disease.

Program Director Alex Simwanza said it was important that many people know their status if the fight against HIV/AIDS were to be won.

"Currently, statistics show that despite our high sustained prevalence levels of HIV infection which is 16 percent, only 1.5 million of our (10 million) population have been tested, which is too low," Simwanza was quoted by Friday's The Post as saying.

"It is important that more people go for VCT and know their status so that whichever side they find themselves on, they will be able to take precautionary measures," Simwanza said.

"Knowledge in the fight against HIV/AIDS is power," he added.

Simwanza appealed to those who do not know their status to utilize the VCT Day that falls Friday and make a difference in their lives and their families lives.
"Testing and counseling play a critical role in HIV prevention by helping people to cope with the disease and avoid infecting others," he said.

He said the prevention of HIV needs a multi-faceted and integrated approach that could reach the widest possible number of people with a mix of information and services.

The fear of discrimination and stigma had prevented people from testing for HIV, Simwanza said.

He however pointed out that thanks to the availability of free treatment that allows people with HIV to continue living and feeling well for many years, there have been more people opting to be tested.

"The availability of treatment has generated hope because of an underlining close linkage between testing, treatment and prevention," Simwanza said.

Source: Xinhua