Aids claiming 80 police officers annually
Deputy Inspector General of Police responsible for operations Rodney Jose has said between 70 and 80 officers are dying every a year due to HIV and Aids-related illnesses.
In an interview after opening a day-long mainstreaming orientation and advocacy session for senior officers in Lilongwe yesterday, Jose without giving a specific period, said over a hundred officers were dying annually, but the situation is now improving.
Said Jose: “We used to have a lot of deaths in the years gone by, but now I can say we are trying our best because the numbers of officers dying is decreasing. In the past, over 100 officers could die, but now we are only losing about 70 to 80 officers. This is still a very big number and we need to sensitise the officers not to have multiple sexual partners.”
According to Jose, the HIV prevalence rate based on the latest Malawi Demographic and Health Survey is still high among officers aged between 20 and 30.
“The devastating impacts of Aids erode the workforce as most police officers infected and dying are normally in the prime of their lives, new entrants and are faced with risk behaviour such as peer pressure, unprotected sex, low risk perception, power and force syndrome as well as drug and alcohol abuse,” said Jose.
Vice-chairperson for the National Police Headquarters HIV and Aids Workplace Committee senior deputy commissioner Merlyne Yolamu said integrating HIV and Aids programmes in the duty policing is very important as officers need to be proactive in fighting the pandemic.
She said integration of HIV programmes into policing activities will also greatly help to reduce HIV related deaths even more.
