MW Govt Eager to End HIV/AIDS by 2030… Ready to implement Fast Track Report targets

MW Govt Eager to End HIV/AIDS by 2030… Ready to implement Fast Track Report targets

Malawi Government is optimistic to end AIDS pandemic by 2030 as targeted by the recent UNAIDS report ‘Fast Track Strategy to end AIDS by 2030’.

Secretary for Nutrition and HIV/AIDS in the Office of President and Cabinet Edith Mkawa in an interview said the government is ready to ensure that it is more aggressive on HIV and AIDS issues through intensifying awareness campaigns and implementation of the UNAIDS Fast Track strategy.

She said starting this month of December where the world commemorate HIV and AIDS effects, Malawi will intensify its activism beginning Monday 1^st December with World AIDS day event in Karonga, by focusing on spreading information on benefits of male circumcision.

“This year’s World AIDS day we are focusing on three zeros. Zero discrimination, zero new infections and zero deaths due to HIV. Along with that we are also going to be talking a lot on male circumcision because we have found that with Medical Male Circumcision there is a lot of progress.” Said Mkawa

She said from these messages men will also be warned that medical male circumcision does not protect them fully from HIV but it is just one way of helping to protect them from HIV and they need to maintain following other protection methods like having one sex partner, condom use.

On Fast Track report she said “We will be implementing what they are recommending so that we give more information out there to the communities. We will be more aggressive in the way we approach HIV so that at least there are more people that go for testing, put on treatment, and that some of the issues like stigma and discrimination that affect people and prevent them from going for testing and receiving treatment we deal with them by 2030.”

“So we are hoping that by 2030 we should make progress”

However, Mkawa urged every Malawian and every institution to take part in supporting government in the fight of HIV pandemic saying government alone cannot make a great impact.

But Malawi must to do a lot in achieving this dream considering that Malawi still rely on donor support on HIV response where 90% of funding comes from Global Fund.

As UNAIDS Fast Track to end AIDS by 2030 urges all low- and middle-income countries to bring domestic funding into line with their national wealth and HIV burden, there is fear that Global Fund might delay funding to Malawi following alleged misuse of HIV and AIDS response funds at National Aids Commission (NAC).

Recent media reports reveals sum of K57. 4 Million for HIV response at NAC was donated to institutions not involved in HIV response where, the Malawi First Lady’s initiative ‘Beautify Malawi Trust (BEAM)’ received up to K5 Million, National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) got K43 Million and Mulhako Wa Lomwe received K9.4 Million when the said institutions requested NAC to fund their activities.

Five CSOs CHRR, Cedep, Mehen, Manet+ and Manelela are demanding Country Coordinating Mechanism Committee of the Global Fund (CCM) to swiftly investigate and bring those responsible to book and immediate dissolution of NAC Board and be replaced by one with sober minded individuals.

As the world is embarking on a Fast-Track strategy to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, Malawi is among Low-and Middle-Income countries that account for 89% of all new HIV infections.

“To reach this visionary goal after three decades of the most serious epidemic in living memory, countries will need to use the powerful tools available, hold one another accountable for results and make sure that no one is left behind.” Reads the UNAIDS report

The report indicates that without scale-up, the AIDS epidemic will continue to outrun the response, increasing the long-term need for HIV treatment and increasing future costs.

“There is a strong global consensus that the tools now exist to end the AIDS epidemic. This confidence is based on a combination of major scientific breakthroughs and accumulated lessons learned over more than a decade of scaling up the AIDS response worldwide. The achievement of targets built on these tools now needs to be fast-tracked.” Says the report

The report further indicates that HIV treatment can dramatically extend the lifespan of people living with HIV and effectively prevent HIV transmission. And condom programming, behaviour change, voluntary medical male circumcision and programmes with key populations are opportunities that have capacity “to sharply lower” rates of new HIV infections.

“HIV infections may not disappear in the foreseeable future, but the AIDS epidemic can be ended as a global health threat. To achieve this by 2030, the number of new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths will need to decline by 90% compared to 2010.” Adds the UNAIDS report

APM Donates Minibus To Former School Dedza Sec…Set Aside K15million For Painting, Road Rehabilitation

APM Donates Minibus To Former School Dedza Sec…Set Aside K15million For Painting, Road Rehabilitation

President Professor Peter Mutharika has donated a minibus to his former school Dedza Secondary popularly known as Box 48.

Mutharika’s Special Personal Assistant Ben Phiri handed over the vehicle worth K5million to the school on Monday.

The donation is going to ease transport problems that the students and the staff at the school have been experiencing for so many years since the institution has only single lorry and an old grounded school bus.

President Mutharika donated the bus following the requests by the school management and students when Mutharika paid them unannounced visit few weeks ago.

“The president is an alumni of Dedza Secondary School and he within his own will decided to make a surprise visit to the school because he believes that what he is today is because of what he learnt during those days at Dedza Secondary school.” explained Phiri

“When he came here he discovered that there are quite a lot of challenges and one of which was transportation problem. Again the other problems were to do with the road to the Boma and again the state of the school as it stands right now.  So he had to pull his resources together to purchase the bus just to make sure that the transport problem is sorted out”

Phiri further said by donating the bus to his former school the president felt that as alumni it is important that he leads the way for others to follow the good example of what he is doing.

He said the starting next week the school will be painted and that Mota-Engil will begin to rehabilitate the 6Km dilapidated road from Dedza Boma to the school. He mentioned that the road will be an all season gravel road.

“The president will be rehabilitating the road from the school to Dedza Boma and again the school will be painted and all starts next week. I must mention that this has got nothing to do with the government. It’s not government money! He has used his resources to do it and at some extent his friends have come in to help him.”

Phiri also indicated that the whole road construction project and painting of the school infrastructure will cost MK15 million. Therefore the whole project including minibus donation total’s to MK20 Million.

Receiving the minibus donation, Deputy Head Teacher for the school Edness Banda thanked the president for living up to his promise at a short period of time. She said this help will bring back the lost glory of Dedza Secondary School.

Banda said the school has for a long time been using a lorry to pick sick students to Boma and that it was difficult for the staff to travel to important functions at division offices and in Lilongwe education headquarters offices.

“We are proud of receiving the donation and we are also proud of our president for assuring us that he is going to rehabilitate the school and the road”

The deputy head teacher also promised that the school will take care of the bus and the school property.

Dedza secondary school which was opened in 1951 has produced a lot of leaders including current Finance and Economic Development Minister Hon. Goodall Gondwe, current Chief Secretary and former president late Professor Bingu Wa Mutharika.

"There will be a major shake-up" New NONM President

Dorothy Ngoma New NONM President

The nurses union of Malawi, National Organisation for Nurses and Midwives (NONM) has elected Mrs Dorothy Ngoma as President of the union on Sunday.

The union has elected Ngoma on Sunday at the end of the three day Biannual conference in Lilongwe and has replaced Mr. Abraham Jonathan Gama who led the union for a single term. Gama was also seeking his second term.

 “As you are aware that we have a lot of issues that we need to continue, we started very well for some time but we stored a little bit but there are a lot of things.”  Said Dorothy Ngoma the newly elected nurses union president when explaining some of the things that she is promising Malawian nurses as she takes up the post.

“You remember there is issue of upgrading of nurses, the need to get more scholarships, the need to work on conversion programme so that all the nurses in Malawi become one cadre that of registered nurses or the professional nurses. That’s what seemed to come strongly in the whole conference.”

She strongly indicated that her first crucial role is to ensure that more nurse technicians are given scholarships to upgrade to state registered nurses and that registered nurses should be specialized.

In order to reduce “continued illnesses and death” among nurses due to diseases like cancer, Ngoma wishes that the country should have ‘nurses centre’ and would ask government to put all nurses on health care plan of MASM.

She said she will also ensure that nurses welfare improve further particularly on housing, salaries and ensure that nurses have all necessary resources for patient care.

“I have four years, and within those four years there is going to be a major shake-up, a major development of that union.” She said and continued “And my believe and hope is that us as a union and government we will work together because we are there for the good of patient.”

“We will continue lobbying and advocating for good patient care for resources for care while protecting the nurses, because many nurses are dying out there. Infectious conditions, and on Ebora, we need to champion that and make sure that every nurse and health care workers knows what to do. So that if we get to know there is a case no nurse or health worker should die.”

Ngoma also mentioned that having vast experience including working in government she is in better position to assist NONM in suistanability and mobilizing funds for scholarships for those who need to upgrade to state registered nurses and those wish to specialize.

Dorothy Ngoma is one of the pioneers in establishment of NONM and some years back, worked for the institution as Executive Director before being appointed by former president Dr. Joyce Banda to work as National Coordinator for Safe Motherhood.

Mw Govt Firm on Judiciary Demands

Mw Govt Firm on Judiciary Demands: Pushing for Further Discussions

Government says it has maintained its position regarding three demands being made by its executive arm the Judiciary.  

The judicial staff comprising of Judges and Magistrates wants their salary adjusted corresponding to the rate that has been implemented for Civil Servants, payment of housing allowance, and the purchase of new motor vehicles for judicial officers and replacement of old vehicles which have clocked 150,000km.

According to a notice dated 21^st November 2014 signed by Justice Lovemore Chikopa JA as Chairperson of the Working Committee on Terms and Conditions of Service of Judiciary addressed to Minister of Justice and Chief Secretary, threatens that all staffs in Judiciary will at the expiry of seven days from the day thereof proceed to withhold labour until their issues have been resolved to their satisfaction.

“The information that has been given to the public suggests that the Judiciary is going on strike because Government has not resolved the issues that they had raised in their communiqué dated 30^th October, 2014 which was addressed to the Attorney General” said Samuel Tembenu Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs at a press briefing in Lilongwe over the weekend when making response to the impending judicial strike.

“These matters have been a subject of discussions for the past month between representatives of the Judiciary and the Office of the President and Cabinet; Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs”

Hon Tembenu said in several engagements the judicial staff “flatly rejected” government offer to bring their salaries to that same level as those obtaining in the Civil Service and to add on top of that a 15% increment. He said they have also indicated in no uncertain terms to accept nothing less than new vehicles and that their demands should be implemented fully.

He further said in three recent meetings of which one of them lasted only 15 minutes the Judiciary refused to compromise government position and explanation that, what has happened in the Civil Service is a salary restructuring exercise and not general increment.

The minister indicated that Judicial officers and supporting staff have always had higher salaries than other officers in comparable grades within the Civil Service and because of this disparity government is now implementing a Medium Term Pay Policy (MTPP) adopted in 2005 which its objective is to implement a harmonized pay and incentive regime for the public service within an affordable wage bill.

“In any event, it is an anomaly to describe the salary restructuring and harmonization as a general increment and to be used as a basis for the current demand.” Said the minister and indicated that accommodating all judicial staff demands in full, and the current economic situation, will defeat the whole purpose of 2005 “harmonization policy”

He therefore underlined that Government is pursuing the principle of “Equal pay for work of equal value” and full implementation of the measures will require significant efforts and understanding from all executive arms of government.

On housing allowances the minister indicated that all allowances such as on housing were consolidated in the basic pay which the Principle Secretary for Human Resource Samuel Madula concurred with the Minister and reminded on the consolidation which was made some years back to ensure that wage bill is manageable following a problem of “average in salaries” which in the end Late President Bingu Wamutharika proposed to go back to old system where he said everyone benefited a lot.

Madula added “There is no need to go back on this matter to add again on housing allowance which current budget cannot absorb and it would be difficult to meet the primary objective of harmonization.”

But Hon. Tembenu warned that the decision to go on strike as an arm of Government, Judiciary is “effectively abdicating” its constitutional responsibilities a development which may also result in disturbing pursuance of cashgate cases in courts where the Judiciary is a key player in the handling of these cases.

“Therefore, the Judiciary’s stated intention to go on strike at this point is tantamount to holding the people of Malawi to ransom. In any case, it is a tragedy for a whole arm of Government to shutdown in their manner proposed and deny the people of Malawi their right to access justice.”

Hon Tembenu however, said government is still appealing to Judiciary to live up to its constitutional mandate and responsibilities in the interest of the people of Malawi.

He expressed hope that reason will prevail in resolving this impasse very soon “We cannot resolve that issue after another branch has downed its tools we need to carryon doing our work all of us in our respective areas of work”

Pop Star Madona Malawi’s Goodwill Ambassador For Child Welfare

Pop Star Madona Malawi’s Goodwill Ambassador For Child Welfare

The famous American Pop Music Queen Madonna Louise Ciccone popularly known as Madonna is now a Goodwill Ambassador for Malawi on Child Welfare.

Malawi President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika has appointed Madonna who is currently raising her two Malawian adopted children David Banda and Mercy Brown.

According to a Press Statement signed on 28^th November 2014 by Chief Secretary to Government Mr. George Mkondiwa says the appointment is with immediate effect.

Government of President Mutharika few days ago also announced that it has returned VVIP status of Madonna which was revoked  by Dr. Joyce Banda administration following the disagreements Madonna had with Anjimile Oponyo Ntira sister to Joyce Banda.

It is reported that Madonna had disagreements with Anjimile over payments and project implementation some years back and Banda administration revoked the status by tagging the development that Madonna failed to fulfill her promise to build in Malawi a Girls Academy. 

NONM commend govt for fostering good relationship with nurses

NONM commend govt for fostering good relationship with nurses 

The nurses union, National Organisation of Nurses and Midwives of Malawi (NONM) says there is hope that nurses welfare and the health sector in general will continue to improve because of the healthy relationship between the organisation and Malawi government.

The Executive Director for NONM Harriet Bwanali made the remarks in Lilongwe on Friday at the opening of Biannual meeting of the organization where the Minister of Health Dr. Jean Kalirani was the guest of honor.

Bwanali said for the past two years the organization has made some positive strides in the course of improving nurse’s welfare and capacity building because the Ministry of Health has been keen to work with and listen to NONM on critical issues it has been raising to government.

She pointed out several achievements that the organization has made so far which she said are the signs of the positive relationship between the organization and the Ministry. She among others mentioned that the organization has had in several occasions meeting with Government Negotiation Team to discuss on salary adjustment for nurses where positive response was made as salary was adjusted to 34% increase and that another increment has been made recently.

The NONM Executive Director added that through such discussions several houses have been built in various health centres and currently there are nurses and midwife technicians in all Malawi Health Science colleges upgrading to state registered nurses.

“For the past two years we have seen that there is improvement, we can seat around the table.  The Ministry has been inviting us and we have been included in several technical working groups. This means we have a voice in those technical working groups and we just hope that we will continue to enjoy such type of relationship between government and ourselves as a union” said Bwanali

She added that since government began to recognize NONM such good relationship is also spreading to other professional bodies that have in the past years denied NONM to seat and look at issues together.

“In the past years when we were starting as a union other bodies looked at us as an enemy because they thought we were just cleaning our dirty linen in the public, but what we are doing now is to look at issues, sit down and discuss together and move forward”

On the importance of this Biannual meeting which is to end on Sunday 30^th November and is expected to elect its President, Bwanali said “This meeting is for us to look at issues that we can put on the agenda for lobbying and advocacy, and as we do that we are looking at improving the care that we give to the population of Malawi.”

But in her remarks Minister of Health Hon Jean Kalirani also applauded NONM for being one of the health institutions that is working hard fighting for the improvement of nurses’ welfare and their professional growth.

Kalirani said NONM efforts are assisting government in retention of nurses as well as making sure that nurses are ethical in their duty. She therefore pledged that government will work out on challenges that nurses are facing in the country including making sure that there is no interruptions in medical supplies essential for the work of nurses particularly drug stock-outs in the countries hospitals.

The minister while acknowledging the shortage of nurses in the country, she stated that government will try its best to ensure that more nurses are being trained but emphasized that nurses should be ethical and professional as they do their noble duty of treating patients.

Dowa Police urges Malawians to find proper ways of resolving family disputes

Dowa Police urges Malawians to find proper ways of resolving family disputes

Police in Dowa have urged members of the general Public to engage with relevant authorities including police whenever there is family matter fights.

This follows the suicide of a 24 year old man in the district following a family dispute.

According to Dowa Police Public Relation Officer Sergeant Richard Kaponda the deceased Anderson Petrol from Mgwadali village of T/A Msakambewa in Dowa district, hanged himself to a tree in his garden where he suffocated to death just few days ago.

Kaponda says he quarreled with his wife who refused to take K200 to use for maize mill.

Sergeant Kaponda said Police are encouraging people to resort any problem in the family to their advocates or at any nearest police station than taking one’s own life.