Africa-Press – Angola. The Minister of State for the Social Area, Carolina Cerqueira, evaluated, this Monday (11), with the president of the Angolan Network of AIDS Service Organizations (ANASO), António Coelho, the development of joint actions to strengthen the fight against the HIV and AIDS virus, within the scope of the partnership with the Executive.
During the hearing, Carolina Cerqueira recognized ANASO’s active role in mobilizing, educating, raising awareness and disseminating relevant information and other efforts made with specific target groups that are part of the Executive’s strategy to combat HIV and AIDS, especially within of the most vulnerable communities.
The two entities made a deep assessment of the current situation of the cases registered in Angola and presented a picture of the existing needs for the reinforcement of the prevention actions and continuity of the fight against HIV and AIDS throughout the national territory.
In turn, the president of ANASO highlighted the importance of institutional support from the Executive for the development of its actions, a fact that has allowed the expansion of its intervention in the 18 provinces of the country and specified the permanent dialogue that it maintains with the office of the minister of State and the Ministry of Health (MINSA), whose institutional support has been fundamental for the association’s activity.
António Coelho welcomed the support provided by UNSIDA and through programs funded by the Global Fund.
Among the main concerns is the need for a permanent headquarters, since they are temporarily located in the UNSIDA building, which provided some rooms for them to function.
It also requested support with basic food baskets to alleviate the nutritional deficiencies of some families in a precarious situation, having received guarantees of support in collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce, within the scope of the social responsibility of some companies operating in the food area and with the intervention, also, of AJAPRAZ.
The ANASO leader underlined that he received guarantees from the Minister of State that the Angolan Government will continue to support community actions related to HIV and AIDS in the country, despite the financial crisis that Angola is going through.
“We left convinced that we can continue to count on the support of the Government, to continue to develop actions that aim to improve the quality of life of the citizens”, he said.
As part of the partnership between ANASO, the Government and the Global Fund, António Coelho recalled that organizations have been working in response to the AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria epidemic for over 30 years, with the aim of reaching people with prevention, adherence treatment, care and support, human rights empowerment and reduction of gender inequalities.
He highlighted the need to improve HIV diagnosis, direct observational treatment in the community for Tuberculosis and better manage malaria cases in the community.
Global Fund Support
The president of ANASO said that the Global Fund is making available, for the period 2021/2024, about US$82 million to combat AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, in addition to an additional US$20 million to combat Covid-19. -19 in the provinces of Benguela and Cuanza-Sul.
The community component, he said, has little support, but it is important that civil society makes all the difference. “We believe that there are windows of opportunity that should be better used, because health is an investment and not a cost”, she defended.
ANASO, founded in 1994, is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with over 35,000 activists and 315 institutional partners. AIDS in Angola and avoid duplication of activities and waste of resources.
Until November last year, ANASO pointed to the existence of more than 350 thousand people living with HIV-AIDS in Angola, with Viana as the municipality with the most cases of this disease, in Luanda.
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