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Support HIV/AIDS national events – DATF
Kapiri Mposhi, June 26, ZANIS – Stakeholders in the HIV/AIDS sector in Kapiri Mposhi district have been called upon to include in their institutional budgets funds to support HIV/AIDS national and international events.
District AIDS Task Force (DATF) Chairperson, Lizzie Mbwili noted that the existing overreliance on external financiers to support the hosting of HIV/AIDS commemorations and programs was not sustainable to the effective fight against the pandemic in the district.
Mrs. Mbwili said this during the National VCT Day preparatory meeting for stakeholders in the HIV/AIDS sector in Kapiri Mposhi district today.
She said it had become increasingly difficult for the district to successfully host and implement the HIV/AIDS events and programs because of lack of resources as most external supporters who are approached for assistance decline or do not usually honor the DATFs requests for support.
“Time-after-time the DATF appeals for financial and material support from external funders that include the local business community to host HIV/AIDS commemorations such as VCT and World AIDS Days.
we are not going to make it if we continue to depend on donations to fight this disease … we should initiate funding protocols within our institutions’ budgets to enable us drive these programs aimed at enlightening and providing services to people on HIV/AIDS,” Mrs. Mbwili said.
Mrs. Mbwili said the fight against HIV/AIDS needed determination and preparedness and not overdependence on charity.
She also noted that there was need for the DATF to find ways to generate its own income in order to sustain the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the district.
The VCT Day falls on 30th June annually and this year’s event is being commemorated under the theme “reaching everyone, everywhere with Annual HIV Counseling Testing services”.
And Mrs. Mbwili implored all stakeholders in the fight against HIV/AIDS to collaborate in order to reduce the prevalence rate of the disease which stood at 15 percent in the district.
She noted that the prevalence rate of HIV in the area was too high and needed to be reduced adding that this can only be achieved when stakeholders work together.
