Namibia is one of the Southern African countries worst hit by HIV/AIDS. The latest survey by the ministry of health indicates a rapid increase in the infection rate. Liue Kauta is the HIV/AIDS coordinator in the ministry. She told Voice of America English to Africa reporter Lameck Masina that despite the alarming increase, the government is taking strong measures to fight the disease.
“We have a five-year strategic plan looking at how effectively to reduce [the] HIV problem,” she said. “We have the five components; the first one, we want to look at leadership, empowering the leaders on HIV and AIDS because we know that without a political will, there is no way we can go further in this fight.”
She says the government has intensified its effort to provide treatment, care and support, including anti-retroviral therapy for people who are living with HIV.
Kauta says another important component of the government’s HIV program is prevention. “Okay, we have people who are already infected, but we have also those who are still not infected; we have got awareness campaigns, although we know that people already know about HIV. The focus now is to address people’s attitudes towards the disease so that people can really change their sexual behavior.”
