Malawi First Lady urges women to enhance skills in fight against HIV/AIDS

By Janet Mbwadzulu, Malawi Communications

Dr. Gertrude  Mutharika, Malawi’s First Lady, has acknowledged World Vision for its work in uplifting the lives of people especially women, girls and children. Gracing the AIDS Day event last month held in Dedza District, she encouraged the women and girls present to take advantage of World Vision’s available programs in their communities to learn skills and develop themselves.

In her speech, the First Lady said the country need to put girls and women at the center of the fight against HIV/AIDS prevent the spread of the pandemic if the country is to achieve the 90-90-90 target.

90-90-90 target is a report that highlights best practices and provides examples of countries that are already coming close to achieving the 90–90–90 targets, which are that 90% of people living with HIV know their HIV status, 90% of people who know their HIV-positive status are accessing treatment and 90% of people on treatment have suppressed viral loads.

This followed a workshop in Durban, South Africa last year, where countries discussed how they could scale up HIV testing and treatment across several regions named as “90–90–90 Target Workshop to pursue knowledge translation of treatment as prevention. It also launched draft copies of a new UNAIDS report, 90–90–90: on the right track towards the treatment target (UNAIDS, 2016).

“We need to ensure that we protect the girls and young women from cultural practices that expose them to HIV/AIDS like the 'hyena'case”, the First Lady adds. She encouraged all citizens in Malawi to go for HIV testing to know their status. The hyena case refers to a practice of Malawian men paid to have sex with underage girls to initiate them into womanhood.

During the event, the young women and girls from Tchesa Area Program, a catchment area for World Vision in Dedza district displayed the different skills they have learned at Tchesa Youth Community Centre that World Vision constructed for them in 2014. This included tailoring, baking and electrical wiring.

Mercy Keliasi from Mphonde Village was one of those who learned tailoring skills. Now 23 years old and a mother of a 9-month old child, Mercy wrote her Malawi School Certificate of Examinations in 2012 but for lack of money for her school fees, she stopped going to school. In 2015, Mercy got married to a primary school teacher.

Mercy said she decided to enroll for tailoring course last August, 2016 after facing some monetary challenges in their home few months after her marriage. "I joined the course to earn some skills which can help me earn income to help my husband. Together we can provide the basic needs of our children," she said.

"I am now looking forward to writing examination on 8 December, 2016 so that I can receive my certificate and become an officially recognized tailor," continues Mercy as she showed her tailoring skills at the event. As she talked to the First Lady, Mercy expressed her gratitude to World Vision for introducing the youth centre in Tchesa telling her it provided young women, girls and boys an opportunity to engage in something productive and avoid activities that expose them to HIV/AIDS.

According to Prisca Gauti, the Development Facilitator for Malawi Maternal and Newborn Child Health Project, World Vision started working with the youth in Tchesa Area Program in 2011 and constructed a Youth Centre on 2014. She added that World Vision works with the Technical, Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training Authority of Malawi (TEVETA) that facilitates technical, entrepreneurial and vocational education trainings.

"World Vision mobilizes the youth who are out of school from different communities within Tchesa and Chitundu Area Programs to come to the Youth Centre to learn some skills which can help them become financially independent. After receiving their certificates, we connect them to Vision Fund so that they can get a loan and start a business. This is to keep the youth busy from indulging in other activities that can expose them to HIV/AIDS," says Prisca.

World Vision Malawi started implementing a three-year HIV/AIDS project in Tchesa in 2013, targeting 38,000 people for HIV campaigns and testing, of which currently 263 are affected.