Education Minister, Geoffrey Lungangwa has called on teachers across the country to go for voluntray HIV conselling and testing to Know their HIV/AIDS status.
Proffessor Lungwagwa says the country is losing valuable manpower due to HIV/AIDS
because people wait until they are sick to go to the hospital.
He noted that VCT was an important element in the fight against the pandemic as it
is the entry point for prevention, treatment, care and support.
Professor Lungwangwa said this in Lusaka today in a speech read for him by his
deputy, Lucy Changwe,at celebrations to mark the Teachers Health Day in Lusaka
today.
He noted that the ministry of education is the largest employer adding that quality
education cannot be achieved without healthy teachers.
Professor Lungwangwa noted that the fight against HIV/AIDS cannot be achieved
through talking alone, but that there is need to take drastic and holistic actions
to save the next generation from the pandemic.
speaking at the same function, Director of Human resource and administration at the
ministry of eucation, Daniel Bowasi said the the HIV’AIDS pandemic has continued to
take heavy toll on humanity.
Mr Bowasi said in ordeer to effectively fight the pandemic, the ministry in 2006
launched an HIV/AIDS work place policy.
He noted that the policy has so far been comprehensive, as it covers all vital areas
of HIV/AIDS.
Mr Bowasi observed that the policy was a foundation for the prevention and care
programmes in the ministry and also sets the standard behaviour expected of all
employees.
He however said the policy can only be useful if it is widely dessiminated to all
employees in the ministry.
ZANIS
Well, it should be for every Zambian really. I hope they are not just picking on the poor teachers
that has to start with shikapwasha.
Annd then what? what does knowing that a teacher is hiv positive help the ministry? If it is necessary and a requirement, let it be by policy that every teacher, including other civil servants have their tests and results be sent at the ministry head office that the prof. lungagwa can know how many pupls are in danger, when their teachers alas try to sleep with them!!!
#3 that a good move but let them start with anyone standing for MP to go for VCT, pantu we are tired of bye-elections te? elyo naba-minister nabo must go for VCT makamaka shikapwasha.
#3, what is the strategy put in place for would be positives? $60bn from G8 is no in until 2010, can Lungwangwa tell us the implications of these tests? Of course kids safety must come first but with the corruption of exams answers for sex,boys and girls will be at great risk, especially girls?
Titus mwaice you have imporved in your contributions ever since I took leave keep it up.That is the way to go pa blog.
Nkhata boy mwaice where are you? Can you wake up tomorrow is Saturday are you doing night shift?
#5 Ba Kuku you should be realistic sometimes, on this blog all you do is criticise, where is Zed going with pipo like you! It is a good move, let all teachers go for HIV tests, then for those who will test positive there is/will be plans for them! Its just vital that a person who is in contact with almost the whole community undergoes testing!
Try to think your mentor Titus!
And who told you that the minister is waiting for money from G8?
Sorry as you business testing who positive and not your friends are busy look for medicine to cure HIV.Once the medicine you will again have to pay heavily.How can u single out a group of pipo to do tests this is descrimination. Its the duty of the health sector to ensure that people know there status. You dont force them instead you encourage and talk about the benefits. After all you dont have enough medicine last year government target only 100 000 to get ARVs. Look for Zambia remedies as well instead of waiting for Billion which will may come 2010. So the next three eyes that dont have access to medicine will die. In most western countries there already provisions for HIV people to have children if they wish so. Children are born health and they dont get infected by the parents. We should not play with life, tomorrow it be you unless you tell you obstain from Sex for rest of your life. Remember when the first case in Zambia came publicly we were laughing ati “Ichoni chalakutola”
#6 Sadist,the whole idea of bloging is to put what is up your mind.If yo are going to be a ‘yes’ bwana in everything then you are not fit for purpose.Its like debate they will be those for and those for not you take what best suits you.STOP being a sadist very soon you will have high blood pressure. Be happy in what you do its the best medicine.Read Proverbs.
I pity you you didnt even understand the meaning of #5 ask Titus for guidance.
HIV test must not be for Teachers it should be for all Zambians including yourself if adequate measures of AIDs are to be contained but these must go with proper policing ?I s govt going to fund the cost of ARvs to these teachers?Already 135 teachers died in Kasama what measures have been put in place for the safety of school kids? Ba sadist ala bukeni and be reasonable
#7…You take it so light and think hiv aids should be treated like malaria. Because of thinking seclusively you cannot even talk about the dangers of unprotected sex with young people in homes. Africa please wake up and abash irrelevant african cultural behaviour where its taboo to talk about sex with your children. Zebige kuku #7 talks of no prevalence of strategic plan. Every grown up (sexually active) Zambian must know their hiv status including pro. lungwagwa himself. And this information must be known by the employer-It is absolutely not discrimination. We have various profiles of profession and upon knowing, we need to have a string of vectors to follow. Maybe to try sondashi2000 or the common ARV’s. But its really a pity to the girl child-pupil. I feel for them. Can the spirit of God guide those teachers to good parenthood and leave a girl child alone please.
#1, It is not just picking on the “poor” teachers. The context of the report is that a speech was delivered on behalf of the Minister of Education. The occassion was to mark Teachers Health Day. Although HIV/AIDS has affected and infected many Zambian professionals, It would have been folly for Minister to give a general advice on VCT. His audience were Teachers hence the advice was specifically to Teachers. Like any other advice it is up to the person being advised to take heed or not.
Now, since I am not speaking at a Teachers’ function, I would like to say that as Zambians, we should take issue of VCT serious. If found positive, it is not the end of the world. There are ARVs in Zambia and lives are being prolonged. The Men who in most infect their wifes are the ones who refuse to go for VCT. This has led to many men dying leaving widows and orphans suffering. Men could rather, go for the now famous circumiscion than VCT. Circumscion does make a man immune to HIV/AIDs.
#10 Ok point taken on the first part of your comment, but the second part No. I think you still stuck with the Urban Legend that men don’t want to got for VCT. We are the brave ones and we do go. Personal experience, I had a girlfriend who totally refused because if she found out she was positive her life would be ruined and we parted. Yes I did go to set the record straight. And the same has happened to many of my friends. Zedian girls believe ignorance is bliss on this issue. Go in the compounds if you doubt me.
Again another urban legend, no we don’t believe circumcision prevents HIV, we just think that it gives you longer mileage in bed and that is why we would do it.
#10 Daka,the Ministers speech was meant for Teachers but what policy has he got for would positives?Teachers and Doctors are most delicate when it comes such disclosure because of the nature of their environment and people they work with.Safety of kids must be paramount, what I would loved Lungwangwa to say beyond just making awareness tests is sensitisation to the children (sexuality lessons be made compulsory), parents sensitisation encourage Parent/teacher interaction vis a vis this pandemic.Its important that kids are given the great knowledge about fatality and preventive measures strictly applied inconjuction with parents.It needed to have been a hard hitting speech that should have been all inclusive
In a country where HIV is endemic, it does not make sense to target a small part of the public service. The policy should cover the whole community. WHy not talk to the children about sex early enough? We need a change in our cultural attitudes towards SEX. We cannot let our kids suffer because of taboos which translate into ‘ostrich-technique’ – burying your head in sand. A sick society is an unproductive one and a poor one at that. As Tony Blair – Africa needs an African solution to our problems – perhaps it is time we came up with Zambian solutions to Zambian problems instead of pandering to our Western ‘advisors’ – no matter how well intentioned the advice. We should take more pride in our country and continent.
Kuku young man, you said on this blog one should speak his mind not so? Man i think you are not getting it right, i said it will start with the teachers and then spread around the Zed! About those measures you are expecting put them across you yourself if you think you can! Cant you see that this move will cut down on teenage AIDS records! Yes bwana? Man when you fill that some moves can be profitable for Zedians you say yes and not these stupid words “yes bwana”
Go for HIV test!
I feel teachers are being victimised, why force them? Let them do what they want with their life and when they want to do it. Professor Lungwangwa should be practical and lead by example. He should first go and urge his fellows in cabinet to go for voluntray HIV conselling and testing to so that they know they HIV/AIDS status. After role teachers are just like any other ordinary pipo why shold they be dedicated upon what to do with their life.
Joint education on HIV/AIDS vital
MINISTRY of Foreign Affairs permanent secretary, Tens Kapoma, says married couples should jointly be educated on HIV/AIDS issues to effectively fight the pandemic.
Mr Kapoma said yesterday in Lusaka that isolated dissemination of HIV/AIDS information among the married had made it difficult to fight the pandemic
He was speaking at Dream Valley Park and Lodge during a couples’ workshop on the importance of voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), safer sex practices and fidelity in marriage.
“If one partner tells the other better methods of sex as learnt in an HIV/AIDS workshop, the other partner will naturally question where the spouse has learnt it from,” Mr Kapoma said.
He observed that such situations brought about suspicions of extra-marital affairs, as the ignorant partner always suspected infidelity.
?It is, therefore, important to empower both partners so that they are at the same level with information and knowledge on HIV to avoid suspicion,? Mr Kapoma said.
And the permanent secretary said perceptions by some sections of society that sexual pleasure and satisfaction implied physical evidence of bruises on women?s genitals promoted men’s ego.
Mr Kapoma said a couples’ meeting was therefore an important forum for addressing issues of sustaining marriages so that the fight against HIV/AIDS could be tackled with knowledge.
He also urged the couples to take advantage of the presence of a VCT site at the workshop to know their status as the fight against the spread of HIV began with knowing one’s status.
And chairperson of the HIV/AIDS committee in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mikatazo Wakumelo, said the committee had made great strides in the mainstreaming of HIV/AIDS at the workplace.
?Last year, this committee opened a scheme where staff and their immediate family members could access VCT as well as laboratory tests related to HIV treatment and anti-retroviral treatment services.
“We have been networking with the Zambia National Response to HIV/AIDS and we have acquired furniture, books and other equipment to set up an HIV/AIDS information centre,” Mr Wakumelo said.
He described the workshop as a necessary undertaking to enhance the fight against the spread of HIV at the family level.
#14 Mwaice sadist that is what we want when talk about POLICY ,see comment 16.It should be an all embracing issue no stone must be left unturned.Leka ukuba Sadist Zambia needs you, why do you want to kill yourself.Join Seventh Adventist Church if you want to be born again
guess it is important for everyone to know his/her status regarding the HIV?AIDS issues. i suppose african particularly zambians need to know that the issues of testing cannot really help us because of the extent to which the ARV programme has being rolled out. unless and until that time that the life prolonging drugs and health and balanced neutrition becames accessible to all, we cannot talk testing. for now we need to do an audit on empowerment essues. as long as people are not empowered financially and others, the issues of HIV will still be a losing battle.i suppose it is important for leaders to look at this issue from both side of the corn. what we need in zambia first is people should wake up to day with hope.hope for everything. we have always hoping for the better tomorrow. we cannot control the spreading pattern of HIV in the midst of povert of the highest degree. the worst impedement in africa’s fight for HIV is poverty.Government therefoe should start by fighting poverty
Ba kuku as you wish to be addressed, now its about joining churches and not about HIV tests te? Man let’s not stray away from the topic! Zed needs us all! about those guy like you who are looking at this topic from the dark side of it, then you are not fit to be in Zed!!
#10 m daka you should understand and talk about issues based on clinical proof. Which medical report told u that circuncision is immunity to hiv/aids? It on ly says that it reduces the chances of getting sexually transmitted deseases. Do you know how many pipo who are circuncised and are hiv positive? Go to UTH and find out!!!
#20, titus, thanks for spotting that mistake and for you constructive criticism. If you read the gist of my comment, I meant to says ” Circumscion does not make a man immune to HIV/AIDS”. When typing I inadvertently ommitted the word “not” which changed the meaning of the last sentence. My apologies to all for that careless omission.
#19 Sadist mwaice wandi bushe naufilwa ukumfwa the point I want you to see?#16 is addressing the issue at family level, even Lungwangwa and Co must spell the nit grits of his fight in a traingular fashion-Parents Teachers Pupils in no particular order, it will be more prudent to spend on prevention than on treatment.Mwaice wandi Church is the centre of salvation irrespective of what you believe in.I want you to look at it from the spitual aspect as well.Nabuca mwaice Sadist be real and sharp to understand issues