Premier Mandla Ndlovu urges men to test for HIV instead of relying on their partners’ status.
– On June 28, 2024, the Victor Khanye Local Municipality Social Services hosted an HIV and AIDS health awareness event, including the deworming of children, at the Waaikraal soccer ground. The aim was to empower the Waaikraal community, and health care providers to reduce HIV stigma and promote HIV testing, prevention, and treatment.
Sbongile Kgasi from the Department of Health emphasized the purpose of the awareness event. “The purpose of the event was to educate the community on sexual diseases, HIV & AIDS, and hygiene. We are also here for children who missed their childhood injections, which is catch-up immunization. We also have vitamin A, which is a drop that helps children to avoid eyesight infections as they grow up,” she explained. “We offer children medication for those who have worms on their heads, which appear as white spots, and this is called deworming,” she added.
The traditional leader, Chief Bongani Mahamba from Waaikraal, shared his thoughts with Highveld Chronicle on the awareness campaign in their community. “I would like to appreciate the Municipality for this health awareness initiative in our community. We have a lot of challenges, especially our youth who are not well informed about sexual diseases. There are no activities to keep them busy, so they end up engaging in sexual activities, leading to pregnancies,” he said. The health awareness in with the Mpumalanga Premier Mandla Ndlovu’s vision who spoeke at a meeting of the Mpumalanga Provincial Aids Council (MPAC) on June 28, 2024, in Mbombela.
Ndlovu urged men to test for HIV rather than relying on their partners’ status.
He emphasized the need for men to utilize available health facilities and programs. “We need to encourage men to develop a health seeking lifestyle. We must therefore assure them that our health facilities and programs are also men-friendly,” he said. MPAC Co-chairperson Sonto Nkosi urged government institutions to utilise conditional donations from donors solely for the fight against HIV and TB, warning that failure to do so would negatively impact the fight against these diseases.
She also called on the government to find and provide support to missing patients who have absconded from taking their treatments. “We appreciate the Premier’s commitment to robustly work hard in the fight against HIV and TB,” said Nkosi.
Community member Lungelo Magangani expressed his feelings on the awareness campaign. “We are very grateful for this awareness in our community because some people cannot make it to the clinic for such information, but now it is delivered to them unexpectedly. I am happy because in Waaikraal, we don’t have a public clinic and we have to go to Delmas town for medication. We only have a mobile clinic that comes once in a while,” he shared.
