NGO fights HIV, TB in Nsanje District

 Foundation for Active Civic Education has launched a project to contain the further spread of new HIV infections in Nsanje District.

According to Nsanje District Council, 24 393 people out of the district’s 326 000 population are living with HIV.

Besides fighting HIV, the project will also implement interventions to address sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis in the Shire Valley district.

Speaking on Thursday during a training to empower journalists to report HIV stories, Foundation for Active Civic Education project officer Costa Nkhani said they will target Sorgin, Bangula and Phokera in Traditional Authority (T/A) Mbenje as well as T/A Tengani in the district.

He said: “We are targeting these areas because of their fishing activities.

“We will partner Aids Health Care Foundation Malawi to implement the project. So, we are training journalists on how best to report on the pandemic.”

Speaking in a separate interview, Aids Health Care Foundation Malawi regional coordinator (South) Emmanuett Kwataine said they will use different platforms, including football, netball and drama performances to engage communities on the importance of going for voluntary HIV counselling and testing and adhering to anti-retroviral therapy treatment.

One of the facilitators, Mcknowledge Tembo, who is also Nsanje District Aids coordinating officer, said they were worried with the new HIV infections.

“The situation will likely affect government’s plans to eliminate HIV infections by 2030,” he said.

One of participants, Cornelius Lupenga, a journalist for Africa Brief, said he was ready to report on HIV to help reduce the district’s prevalence rate.

Yasinta Pindirani, a community member from Bangula, urged her fellow youths to always seek contraceptives such as condoms to prevent contracting HIV