Lineo Mahlomola
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Limpho has delivered a grim public warning that people must continue to be vigilant as HIV/AIDS is still very much around and continues to kill people.
The minister made these remarks earlier this week as Lesotho prepared for the annual commemoration of the World AIDS Day, which is marked on December 1 every year.
Led by the National AIDS Commission (NAC), the main World AIDS Day activities will take place in Matsieng today.
This year’s commemoration has the theme “Let Communities Lead” in a bid to raise public awareness about HIV/AIDS, to remember those who were affected by it and died, and to pass respectable condolences to those who lost their loved ones to it.
“Let us be careful that we still have HIV, it is still infectious, and there are still people whose deaths are said to be caused by AIDS, so let’s work together to make sure we fight this disease,” Tau indicated.
This year’s celebration comes on the backdrop of a global call to combat the condition by achieving the three pronged goals of 95 percent of people to know their status, 95 percent people to know their status and use their lifetime medication, and for 95 percent of those on medication to have their viral loads suppressed by the year 2025.
Tau emphasized that Lesotho has managed to achieve 95, 91 and 98 percent respectively based on the 2022 statistics.
“As a country, we have managed to reach 95 percent of people who know that they are living with HIV/AIDS; 91 percent of people who know their status and are on lifetime medicine, and 98 percent of people who are on medication have their viral loads suppressed.
“This says on the second goal we still need to work hard to make sure that people who know their status should take their medication,” he said.
He reiterated that people must continue to be vigilant as the disease is still infectious and still kills.
