BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Eswatini has adopted the ‘Nkwe’ approach in putting human rights first in fighting HIV/AIDS.
This was revealed yesterday (Sunday, December 1, 2024) by Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini at Mahlangatsha Constituency Centre. This was during the commemoration of the World AIDS Day. During the event, Dlamini the Kingdom of Eswatini will endeavour to put human rights first in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
“The 2024 global World AIDS Day theme, ‘Take the Rights Path’, has been localised to ‘NKWE! Eswatini taking the Rights Path to End AIDS.’ The theme is a call to protect health for all by upholding human rights, particularly for people living with HIV, as well as vulnerable and key populations,” Dlamini said.
The prime minister said he wished to reaffirm that Eswatini would continue to engage with this year’s theme and ensure that no one was left behind in accessing HIV prevention services, treatment, care and support services.
The premier said even though the country was on the verge of eradicating HIV/AIDS, there was still a lot that needed to be done. He said children, who were the future of the country, needed to be taught about this disease. He then launched an HIV/AIDS fighting roadmap called Eswatini HIV Response Sustainability Roadmap.
Eswatini has been able to successfully fight the disease, although it has not totally eradicated it. The country is hailed internationally as one of the countries that have been able to attain the 95:95:95 target in fighting the disease. The prime minister said the country was on course to ensure that it eradicated the disease by 2030.
US Embassy in Eswatini’s Charge d’ Affairs Caitlin Piper has described Eswatini as a global leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS, stating that her country had been able to spend about E1.2 billion to support programmes that helped in the fight against the disease.
Even though signs are pointing towards the success in this endeavor, there are Emaswati who still feel there are loopholes that need to be filled. Vusi Nxumalo, who spoke on behalf of people living with HIV at the event, said they were not happy with the health crisis currently taking place in the country.
Nxumalo further mentioned that previously, it was easy for them to get anti-retroviral therapy (ART), but now, things seemed to be difficult. Mahlangatsha Member of Parliament (MP) Mgucisi Dlamini expressed concerns over the access to health from his fellow residents in his constituency.
Dlamini said he heard that people were able to get ART for free, but for his residents, it was tantamount to getting them at a fee because clinics were far away from them. They had to pay to get to those clinics. He said they had three options when it came to accessing clinics, and the nearest clinics was 10 kilometres away from them and that was Mbovu Clinic.
The legislator said another clinic was Bhahwini Clinic, which was about 15 kilometres away from them. The third option they had, according to the lawmaker, was Mankayane, which was about 30 kilometres away from them.
