Stakeholders say more effort needed in HIV, TB fight
Stakeholders to a meeting on HIV and tuberculosis (TB) among sex workers and prisoners in Zomba have called for more effort to deal with the root cause of the problem.
The resolution was arrived at during a meeting held on Friday at National Initiative on Civic Education (Nice) offices in the district which was organised by the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) in collaboration with the Centre for the Development of People (Cedep) and local parties for the Aids and Rights for Southern Africa (Arasa).
It was attended by representatives from the district council, prison, faith-based, health, judiciary, traditional leaders, sex workers and the police, among others.
Speaking in an interview after the meeting, Pastors’ Fraternal representative Reverend Geoffrey Walasi, said people living with HIV are supposed to first seek medical advice once they have been spiritually healed.
Malawi Prisons Service (MPS) assistant HIV and Aids coordinator Aswel Kachidowo said based on a research conducted by the College of Medicine in all the prisons, the department acknowledges that alleged acts of homosexuality among inmates exist. But he said efforts to effectively curb the HIV prevalence rate are limited as the Constitution criminalises such acts.
