First Lady Of Africa Supports Campaign To Fight AIDS

First Lady of Africa Auxillia Mnangagwa inaugurated mobile clinics across Zimbabwe in an effort to eliminate HIV and AIDS. Speaking on the occasion of the 20th Organisation of African First Ladies against HIV and AIDS (OAFLA) Ordinary General Assembly in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the First Lady said Zimbabwe had registered tremendous progress in the fight against HIV.

“Personally, I undertake to champion the fight by going out there to the remote and disadvantaged areas with mobile clinics to improve access to health services,” said the First Lady.

A six point communique was issued at the end of the assembly and the First ladies committed to advocate for resources and to prioritize the delivery of effective services for AIDS.

The OAFLA noted that, it recognised that providing services for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, especially, targeting young women of childbearing age was crucial to end AIDS.

It said, it was also cognizant of the fact that “we must not lose the momentum and the hard-fought gains of the global HIV movement, and that, eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV is critical to achieving the ambitious goals set out in the Agenda 2063, the Maputo Protocol and the revised 2016-2030 Maputo Plan of Action”.

The First Ladies have therefore, recommitted to increase understanding of how to prevent HIV and AIDS in children by keeping mothers healthy, preventing mother to child transmission and ensuring fast and effective identification and treatment of HIV infected children.

Advertisement

They pledged to advocate for the removal of barriers that prevented children, women and mothers affected with HIV and AIDS from accessing health services.

Source-Medindia