Authorities at the community of Sant’Egidio under the DREAM Program who are running Bridge the Gap HIV/AIDS and TB Project, have expressed optimism about winning the fight against HIV/AIDS and TB in Malawi as the transmission rate is decreasing.
With support from Italian Cooperation Agency (AICS) from Italy, the community of Sant’Egidio – Dream Program is running the two-year Bridge the Gap HIV/AIDS and TB Project which seeks to reach out to over 11,000 HIV and TB patients while on the other hand reducing cases of malaria, hepatitis, water borne diseases and other tropical neglected diseases.
Giving an update on the progress of the project, DREAM project manager Bruce Tambwali expressed satisfaction with the fight against HIV/AIDS and TB in Malawi including in the beneficiary districts of Balaka, Machinga and Mangochi.
Tambwali who was speaking when the DREAM Program donated Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) worth four million kwacha to Balaka District Health Office, said currently Malawi is registering low transmission rate of HIV/AIDS and TB.
He indicated that the HIV/AIDS and TB transmission rate is currently below 10 percent a development which he said gives hope that the country can ably win the fight against HIV/AIDS and TB in the material districts and of course at national level.
“Our data base shows that in 2010 we had high number of people contracting these diseases in these districts and at national level, but as of now after some efforts from different organisations as well as government interventions in fighting the pandemics, we have seen that there is great improvement as evidenced by the current low transmission rate of HIV/AIDS and TB amongst people,” said Tambwali.
Speaking about the donation, Tambwali said the PPEs which will be distributed to different health facilities in the district, is aimed at empowering the district health office on the fight against HIV/AIDS and TB.
In her reaction, Balaka district hospital medical officer Dr Aisha Katita, described the donation as so timely saying most health facilities in the district had inadequate PPEs.
Katita said the donation will answer some of the challenges most Balaka Health Facilities were facing due to insufficiency of the personal protective equipment thereby improving service delivery.
Among the items included; N95 face masks, Latex examination gloves, hand washing liquid soap, heavy duty gloves and 20 litres water buckets.
In December last year, the Sant’Egidio’s DREAM Program also donated to Balaka district health office state of the art ICT equipment worth K11 million which were distributed to over ten health facilities in the district.
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