Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) - On Sunday 17 July in Mozambique, on the first lap of a visit to six African countries by former US president Bill Clinton to promote the fight against the most devastating epidemic on the continent, various anti-AIDS programmes were presented including two projects launched by the Clinton Foudation in collaboration with Doctors with Africa CUAMM the largest Italian organistation to promote and protect health in Africa.
In Mozambique the widespread scourge of HIV represents a major obstacle to development. Over 15% of the population is HIV positive. These two new projects consist of a programme of out-patient HIV treatment for children at Beira Central Hospital, a city where 30% of the people are affected by HIV and a programme to offer HIV/AIDS treatment for the prevention of mother/child contagion in the district of Moma one of the most remote areas in the north of the country. This second programme will be the first example of an integrated intervention in a rural district to allow also services of treatment and prevention of mother/child contagion.
The partnership formed by the Clinton Foundation particularly active in Mozambique to support the nation’s Health Ministry in the struggle against AIDS and CUAMM, present in the country since 1978, has two main objectives: to expand anti-retroviral treatment to include children (up to now exluded from treatment except in the area of Maputo the capital) and to expand the offer of services for prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS in remote rurual areas (Mozambique is a vast country with many extremely isolated areas). (AP) (20/7/2005 Agenzia Fides; Righe:28; Parole:332)
