Ondjiva- The First Lady of Angola, Ana Dias Lourenço, launched Wednesday the "Generation Without AIDS Until 2030" project in Cunene province, with the aim of reducing or eliminating the transmission of HIV from mother to child.
Ana Dias Lourenço explained that the project is a continuation of the results achieved with the "Born free to shine" campaign, which aims to participate in the government's efforts to keep mothers healthy and end pediatric AIDS by 2030.
According to the First Lady, it was necessary to work together in a coordinated way to achieve the recommended targets, so that Angola would be a country with children and young people free of HIV/AIDS.
Ana Lourenço added that the campaign is targeting children and women, with particular emphasis on rural communities, where most people don't have access to information, as well as young people and adolescents.
The project has chosen five areas of intervention linked to primary prevention of HIV and unwanted pregnancies, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, pediatric treatment, issues related to child sexual violence and areas that cut across all aspects of intervention.
As a result, the First Lady said, the project is expected to be recognized at international level and Angolan society mobilized around the project, as well as helping to increase the coverage of early diagnosis in children.
Extending the coverage of antiretroviral treatment for children living with HIV and expanding access to viral load tests and early diagnosis for children in the most remote areas of the country is also among the recommended goals.
Ana Lourenço called on the media to be more involved in disseminating awareness-raising messages to the population, emphasizing the existence of barriers related to existing stigma and discrimination, which increase the number of HIV cases in Angola.
She clarified that due to the high level of misinformation, particularly among young people, there is resistance to treatment, hence the need for more information in the communities, so that people can freely get tested.
"We intend to continue working with the participation of everyone, fundamentally the representatives of civil society in collaboration with public and private institutions, mobilizing individuals and groups to make this action a success," Ana Lourenço said.
Ana Dias Lourenço emphasized that, personally, she has done advocacy work in the campaigns she has carried out and calls on girls to be agents of change in Angolan society.
To this end, she added, she and her team have been committed to educating and empowering women, particularly young girls, because she believes that this is the only way to achieve integrated, inclusive and sustainable development.
Free to Shine campaign reduces incidence of HIV transmission
The "Born Free to Shine" campaign, an initiative of the First Lady of Angola reduced the rate of vertical transmission of HIV-AIDS by 15 percent by the end of 2021, compared to 26 percent in 2018, the year the program was launched.
Presenting the balance of the campaign, Ana Dias Lourenço said that the action had also made it possible to increase the coverage of early infant diagnosis from seven to 16 percent, the results of which are the result of the involvement of partners and the support of the government in installing specialized equipment.
The First Lady also pointed to the increase in the rate of antiretroviral treatment in children, which was 13 percent in 2018 and 19 percent in 2021, adding that despite the period of the COVID-19 pandemic and the constraints it brought, the project had positive results, with HIV-positive pregnant women being able to give birth to healthy babies.
She stressed that the campaign has a three-year operational plan and was the result of a decision by the Presidents of the African Union (AU), who mobilized the First Ladies of their respective countries to get involved in this fight against HIV, particularly in the prevention and protection of HIV-positive women and children.FI/LHE/ART/TED/AMP
