The Ministry of Health and
Social Services has unveiled a national policy on HIV/AIDS. Although still in
draft form, the policy addresses issues such as an “enabling environment,
prevention, treatment, care and support, impact mitigation, responding to
HIV/AIDS in workplaces, institutional framework for policy implementation,
monitoring, evaluation, surveillance and research”. The draft has already been
approved by the National AIDS Committee and endorsed by the Cabinet. It is now
expected to be tabled before the National Assembly and the National Council. The
draft was developed over 18 months and was done with input from all government
ministries, whose permanent secretaries were requested to make inputs. “As part
of the process, a situation analysis and document review was done and the policy
was formulated through consultation in all 13 regions of the country and through
six sectoral workshops that brought together all stakeholders,” said the
Ministry of Health and Social Services. In line with the national policy on
HIV/AIDS, the National Planning Commission (NPC) in the Office of the President
has also launched its own HIV/AIDS policy. The policy is called “The National
Planning Commission Secretariat HIV/AIDS Workplace Policy.” “The world is faced
with such a global challenge, HIV/AIDS that has established itself beyond our
peoples, our institutions, our nations, and our world into the annals of
history. We must conquer it or else it will conquer us,” said the director
general of the National Planning Commission, Helmut Angula.