By Matṧeliso Phulane
The chief executive officer of the National AIDS Commission (NAC), Lebohang Mothae has noted with concern that men are still reluctant to access HIV/Aids services, resulting in a delay in reaching the target of eliminating the epidemic.
In her address during a two-day strategic planning meeting this week, Mothae said a significant number of men are living with HIV/Aids but are ignorant about their status.
She was worried that those who know their status, are reluctant to go and get their Anti-Retro Viral treatment to suppress their viral load, which may lead to high death rates among men.
The gender issue comes into play as men are lagging behind in accessing medical attention in order to understand HIV/Aids, Mothae said.
The strategic plan for 2018/2019-2022/2023 is to end later this month.
Mothae said the objective of the meeting was to revisit the NAC involvement of multi-sectoral stakeholders or implementing partners in informing the new HIV and AIDS national strategic plan to deal with inequality.
She said a team of local and international consultants has been commissioned to facilitate this exercise through a multi-sectorial consultative process.
Apart from that, she stated that a new strategic document will be built on the country’s success and address the weaknesses of the national response and “take advantage of the opportunities to scale up effective and high-impact interventions in line with national, regional, and global perspectives.”
She disclosed that the plan will also boost the multi-sectorial response, strengthen community-led responses, apply a gender and human rights lens as well as maintain and sustain the gains made throughout the years.
Mothae also indicated that NAC is still advocating for education about HIV so that those infected with the epidemic go to clinics and take the “medication in order to live longer because HIV is not a death sentence.”
“Unemployment and poverty, stigma and discrimination as well as multiple concurrent sexual partners, low condom use and sexual violence among the communities are drivers of HIV epidemic coupled with avoidance to take medication or going to clinics to seek help,” she said.
She observed a high HIV/Aids prevalence among men aged 65 and above, and called for action to find the real causes.
Again, she revealed that textile and garment workers in the manufacturing industry were at high risk, and require attention to control the scourge.
According to Mothae, the role of NAC in HIV response is to coordinate the national, multisectoral HIV/Aids response. Again, the commission provides strategic leadership aimed towards ending the epidemic by 2030.
She said community engagement and empowerment are critical to ensure the success of HIV response.
Her sentiments follow a release of the Lesotho Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (LePHIA 2020 report last year, there are 324 000 people living with HIV, while there are 5 000 new infections.
The report also states that there is an 80 percent high rate of infections among young women and adolescent girls aged 15 to 34.
Districts with a high HIV prevalence include Mafeteng at 24.0 percent, Quthing 23.9 at percent, and Maseru and Leribe at 23.6 percent apiece.
Lesotho is heading towards the 2025 global target which is 95-95-95 and 90 and 10-10-10. It highlights that 95 percent the use of combination prevention, knowing their HIV status, adhere to the medication and reduce stigma and discrimination by 10 percent or less.
