BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Even though Eswatini has recorded a significant improvement in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini has warned Emaswati that the war was not over yet.
In fact, the prime minister stated that the war was far from being over. Delivering Government’s Performance Progress Report today at Private and Cabinet Offices in Mbabane, Dlamini said around 4 000 people still got infected annually.
“While good progress has been made to attain and sustain the 95-95-95 UNAIDS target, statistics indicate that the fight against HIV is far from over and more work needs to be done as more than 4 000 new infections are still recorded annually, particularly amongst the youth,” Dlamini said.
The premier said Government, through NERCHA, developed and launched the National Strategic Framework for HIV/AIDS, which would sustain the gains made and further intensify the fight against HIV and AIDS way into the future.
In addition to the fight against HIV and AIDS, Dlamini said this strategic framework recognised the resurgence of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and their impact. NCDs have emerged as a serious concern due to the increase in the number of people, including children being affected by NCDs, according to Dlamini.
The PM further informed the nation that Government has charged NERCHA and the Ministry of Health to prioritise non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and consider if NCDs should not be declared a national emergency. Government has initiated resource mobilisation to support the NCD programme.
To address the problems faced by the Ministry of Health, the prime minister is of the view that the Central Medical Stores (CMS) should become a parastatal.
“Government acknowledges the gravity of the crisis in the health sector. To that extent, Government has charged the Ministry of Health to transform the Central Medical Stores into a parastatal to improve efficiencies and the procurement and distribution of pharmaceuticals as well as eliminate all forms of corruption and pilferage within the supply chain mechanism,” he said.
The PM further said Government rehabilitated, expanded and launched a number of health facilities, including kaZondwako Clinic, which now had a maternity wing, Ndunazithini Clinic, which is new, the Hlathikhulu Public Health Unit, the new High Dependency Unit at Manzini Government Hospital and the National Psychiatric Referral Hospital to ease congestion at the facility.
In addition, the PM mentioned that Government procured and distributed eight ambulances to selected health centres and hospitals to strengthen emergency response. Three theatres were operationalised at the new Referral and Emergency wing at Mbabane Government Hospital.