InterPress News Service (IPS); Thursday, 19 June 1997
Delfina Mugabe

The enemy is the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV), which causes AIDS and it has been advancing at top speed.

At the end of 1994, Mozambique had reported 826 cases of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) to the World Health Organisation. Health officials in the Southern African nation now say that some 37,000 people have died of AIDS-related illnesses up to 1996.

More than 146,000 children had been orphaned by AIDS up to December last, according to the Health Ministry, which predicts that the figure could reach 400,000 by the year 2000.

According to Dr. Maria Tallarico, an advisor with the UN HIV/AIDS Programme (UNAIDS), this could lead to an increase in the number of street children and child labourers in Mozambique.

Life expectancy in Mozambique is 46.4 years, one of the lowest in the world. According to Avertino Barreto, the director of the National STD/AIDS Control Programme, it is not expected to increase between now and the year 2000. He said that, were it not for HIV/AIDS, life expectancy would have reached 53 years by the end of this century.

Baretto feels that unless measures are taken to prevent the spread of AIDS, Mozambique will soon attain the HIV levels that have been registered in neighbouring South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Tanzania.

While malaria, diarrhoeal diseases and respiratory ailments also take their toll on the some 18 million Mozambicans, AIDS has a much greater economic impact because it kills mainly people within the economically active age group.

According to Barreto, the most dramatic effects of HIV/AIDS will be felt not only in the area of human and social development but also in other sectors in this country that has been struggling to recover from the civil war.

National "reconstruction and the creation of new cadres will also be affected," said Barreto.

"Youths and adults who have just been trained or in whom the state has already invested may die before they start their professional life," he added. "It will therefore be difficult for Mozambique to recreate or replace this human capital in the short term and at low cost."

According to Barreto, there is need for a multi-sectoral approach to the problem and every Mozambican will have to take the necessary precautions given the huge impact HIV/AIDS has had.

This impact is not confined to Mozambique, according to Barreto, who pointed out that in neighbouring countries, the demand for health care had risen so much that as many as 60 percent of hospital beds were occupied by AIDS patients.

Thus far, more than 985,000 Mozambican adults are estimated to have been infected with HIV.

Some non-governmental organisations, such as the Mozambican Association for the Development of the Family (AMODEFA), have been trying to lend a hand in the war against HIV.

AMODEFA's strategy has focussed mainly on teaching people about the virus. "Sexual education is crucial in the community, especially increasing the awareness of young people so as to reduce, as much as possible, problems of HIV propagation and problems caused by irresponsible sexual activity," says the NGO.

AMODEFA has been conducting classes in schools, workplaces and neighbourhoods across the country on the impact of AIDS and STDs. "We have been carrying out these activities with a view to helping to reduce the HIV/AIDS propagation levels in our country," a member of the association told IPS.

Since 1995, when it opened a bank account into which well- wishers are encouraged to deposit contributions, AMODEFA has been trying to provide material support for people living with AIDS.

"The idea came up as a result of the requests made to the association by families which had relatives in fairly advanced stages of AIDS and who did not have enough money to buy medicines and food for them," explained the source, who did not want to be identified by name.

"We didn't have anything for this type of situation, so we had to take a decision and open the bank account," the source added. "This initiative has had positive results and through this fund we provide material support for families with AIDS patients." (END/IPS/DM/KB/97)

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