Africa-Press – Eswatini. Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Prince Simelane has vowed to deal harshly with those who would be found to have infected others with HIV/AIDS knowingly.
The minister said in his tenure in office, he would ensure that his ministry facilitates the passing and implementation of laws that would pose severe punishment to those who would deliberately infect others with the virus. Minister Prince Simelane was speaking yesterday at Killarney Stadium during the Hhohho World AIDS Day commemoration. The event was a curtain raiser to the main commemoration on December 1, 2023.
“Woe unto those who would deliberately infect others intentionally with HIV. Even the Bible states that one should do to another, what they would like to be done unto them. Others know that they tested positive for HIV and they intentionally pass it to others which is something evil,” said the minister. In vernacular he added, “Nyalo sesisehhovisi, imitsetfo itawu- ciniswa,” loosely translated, “now that I have assumed office, strict laws will be enacted.”
Discrimination
The minister said it was a day to remember those who had died due to AIDS, and encouraged those who live with HIV to continue living normal and healthier lives. He said they were also raising awareness against HIV stigma and discrimination. He commended His Majesty’s government working with NERCHA and partners for always ensuring that Eswatini joined the world to commemorate World AIDS Day. He said these stakeholders do so in all communities by raising awareness that HIV/AIDS was still a public health threat in the country.
“It is pleasing that in line with this year’s World AIDS Day theme; ‘Let Eswatini Communities Lead in Ending AIDS’, the Hhohho region chose to focus on some of the communities that are most affected and more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. “These being our youth, especially adolescent girls and young women, older men, female sex workers, transport operators and taxi drivers. Access to key HIV services, as well as stigma and discrimination are some of the challenges facing these communities,” he said.
Minister Prince Simelane said ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 was not possible without addressing the needs of these communities and as a country, ending AIDS by 2030 was possible only if they let all communities take the lead. “Nothing must be for the communities without the communities’ involvement. We must involve them. I am, therefore, appealing for equal access to clinical services, and provision of services in all communities in the country.”
The legislator added that community responses to HIV are the cornerstone of effective, equitable and sustainable programmes. He said they mobilise communities to demand services and exercise their rights to care; they also deliver services, support health systems and reach those most vulnerable to HIV where state facilities cannot.
Communities
“Communities, track what works and what does not with a local, contextualised perspective. In other words, communities give a voice to those who need services, provide feedback as to whether policies and programmes are working and suggest how they can be improved. “It is essential that community responses are integrated into the overall HIV response, linking effectively with health-care systems and embedding community activities into a wider context; to transform the HIV and AIDS response. We need to learn from what works in the community responses to HIV and scale them up. We also need to resource these activities and create a long-term strategy for sustaining them,” he said.
The minister said they took note that greater access to HIV treatment, prevention, care and support services is not available or accessible to all population groups and it has not reached the same levels of scale-up in all regions and chiefdoms in Eswatini. Also, not all essential services have been equally scaled up. For example, harm reduction programmes and PrEP services remain unavailable in some remote rural areas. He said community-based advocacy not only in health or HIV programmes have mobilised millions of individuals worldwide to achieve influence policies and laws, improve access to treatment, care, support, HIV testing and enhance HIV prevention interventions in the process, creating an enabling environment for all groups to express their health needs freely.
For More News And Analysis About Eswatini Follow Africa-Press
