by Patson Phiri – SANF 05 No 114
The executive secretary of the Southern African Development Community says the region must scale up collective initiatives to combat HIV and AIDS and address the challenges of food insecurity.
Noting that the disease knows no boundaries, Dr Tomaz Augusto Salomão said southern Africa should come up with all-embracing initiatives to reduce the prevalence of the disease and spur development.
He hailed Lesotho for championing the development and signing of SADC’s Maseru Declaration on HIV and AIDS in July 2003, which provided the vision for the region in fighting the pandemic.
Priority areas of the Maseru Declaration are access to care, testing, treatment, prevention and social mobilisation to the fight against HIV and AIDS. The Maseru plan envisages implementation through multi-sectoral strategic interventions.
Dr Salomão was in Lesotho as part of a familiarisation tour of the 14-member regional bloc following his appointment in August. He has so far been to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Namibia, Madagascar, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Dr Salomão, who took his appointment on 1 September, also cited the need to address the problem of food insecurity, which he noted, is interlinked with HIV and AIDS.
He said anti-retroviral drugs, which are critical for prolonging the life of people infected with the virus, cannot be taken without proper nutritional requirements.
Dr Salomão met with various Lesotho government officials, discussing priority areas he intends to focus on during his tenure of office to enhance regional integration in line with the regional development blue prints.
These include consolidation of peace, political stability and security in the region and combating food insecurity and HIV and AIDS.
He also wants to speed up the implementation of the Protocol on the Facilitation of Movement of Persons and fast-track the introduction of a regional master-plan on infrastructure development. He is also targeting putting in place a coordinated regional strategy on skills development.
He has already indicated during a recent visit to Swaziland that skills development would be among his top priorities and noted that the region’s human resources was pivotal to tackling the region’s socio-economic problems.
Dr Salomão met Lesotho Prime Minister, Pakalitha Mosisili who is also deputy chairperson of SADC. Lesotho is expected to host and assume the chair of the regional bloc at the forthcoming SADC Summit slated for Maseru in August 2006.
While in Lesotho, Dr Salomão also met representatives of the private sector and non-governmental organisations. He encouraged greater participation of these groups in regional programmes and activities.
The private sector representatives urged the executive secretary to address the issue of delays encountered by traders at the borders saying they increase the cost of doing business. They suggested that the border posts should remain open 24 hours a day.
