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Five parliamentarians and two representatives of civil society organisations have gone on a 17-day study tour of Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa which delegation leader Henry Zembere said will make the MPs strong advocates of HIV/Aids issues.
Briefing journalists before departing for Tanzania at Chileka Airport Wednesday, Zembere, who is Mwanza North MP, said the trip will also give the MPs an idea of how they can develop constituency HIV/Aids committees.
“We want to have constituency committees on HIV and Aids in Malawi so that every MP takes a leading role in the fight against the pandemic,” he said.
Zembere said they are visiting Tanzania because MPs there have formed a coalition for fight HIV/Aids in all constituencies, hence they want to learn from them. He said they will also visit Uganda because it remains the only country to have subdued a major HIV/Aids epidemic with adult prevalence rate continuing to drop.
He said South Africa has a record of “best practice” in the Sadc region including programmes targeting prisoners.
Making the trip are Ntcheu Bwanje North MP (UDF) Austin Mtukula, First Deputy Speaker and Mzimba West MP (Aford) Loveness Gondwe, Zomba Malosa MP (UDF) Kennedy Kuntenga and Aford’s Johnstone Kondwani Langa of Mzimba South West while civil society is represented by Lilly Thindwa of Malawi Health Equity Network and Malawi Network of People Living with HIV/Aids’ Victor Kamanga.
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