Nsanje District HIV and Aids coordinator McKnowledge Tembo has expressed concern with the rise in new HIV infections from 9 percent to 10.1 percent.
He said this on Friday during an outreach organised by Word Alive Ministry International Church with its partner Compassion International at Mbeta in Traditional Authority (T/A) Malemia in the district.
Said Tembo: “We have registered 252 new infections since last year and currently about 25 000 people are on anti-retroviral therapy [ART] treatment. This is worrisome since people are still getting new HIV infections. We need to intensify more awareness on how to prevent the virus to achieve the 95:95:95 target.
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“We thank Word Alive Ministry International Church with its partner Compassion International for organising this outreach which will help us to disseminate information on how to reduce the cases.”
Nsanje Police Station community policing coordinator Rex Mlawu said the outreach was important because it provided people with the right information on how to prevent HIV.
Group village head Mbeta thanked the council and the church for the awareness campaign, saying people received medical checkups for free.
Compassion International programmes officer Madalitso Benjamin said the awareness was part of Realising Children from Poverty in Jesus Christ project running in the area.
He said: “One of the project’s components is to promote the well-being of the youth. We need young people to be active in development projects and other activities.
“We also provide bursaries to the youth in technical colleges to get different skills. We have trained carpenters, bricklayers, fashion designers and electricians.”
The awareness campaign sought to promote adherence to ART treatment to reduce new HIV infection in the district.
Malawi is striving to reach the 95:95:95 bench mark in the fight against HIV whose targets is to have 95 of percent of people to know their HIV status and 95 percent of those who know their status to be on ART and 95 percent to have their viral load suppressed.
