Luanda - Angola MPs members of the Parliamentary Forum of the Southern African Development Community (SADC-PF) have welcomed the three-year SADC-PF project on Health, Sexual and Reproductive Rights and HIV/AIDS.
The project aims to strengthen the capacity of parliamentarians to promote effective interventions on health issues and reproductive rights, in addition to combating HIV/AIDS.
For MP Diamantino Mussokola, parliamentarians are called upon to produce laws for the sustainable development of communities, with the aim to reduce mortality and eliminate illegal abortions and combat sexually transmitted diseases.
MP Arlete Chimbinda, meanwhile, urged women to be more engaged in order to achieve the recommended objectives.
Ruth Mendes, another MP, reinforced the need to update the legislation on HIV/AIDS that has been in force since 2004.
Early in June, the SADC, in partnership with the Angolan government and the National Assembly, launched the project and held a round table to alert the community on sexual and reproductive rights.
During the round table, the Secretary General of the SADC-PF, Boemo Sekgoma, explained that the project will ensure the development of girls and guarantee that children can grow up healthy and reduce infections.
Maria Lúcia Furtado, director of the Angola National Institute for the Fight against AIDS, on her turn said that around 52% of the women reported facing difficulties to access healthcare due to the lack of money.
The project includes various activities, including guaranteeing the safety of basic products in terms of healthcare coverage, promoting gender equality, including climate action and the elimination of sexual and gender-based violence.
It also aims to eliminate child marriage and early and unwanted pregnancies, promote comprehensive sexuality education and the right to information on SRHR, protect key populations and marginalized groups, and promote democratic accountability and human rights. ART/DAN/AMP
