FEAR NOT, SAYS ZAMBIA'S PRESIDENT LUNGU.

STEVEN MVULA and MWAPE MWENYA, Lusaka

ZAMBIANS must not fear the newly proclaimed mandatory HIV/ AIDS testing because results, whether positive or negative, will remain confidential between them and their medical practitioners, President Lungu has said.
And the Ministry of Health has said there is no justification or human right in killing yourself by not knowing your HIV status and neither is it a human right to infect others.
President Lungu says he is surprised that some people have misconstrued the mandatory HIV/AIDS testing policy meant to protect ordinary people as something that will make results public.
“People should not be scared to test because they will live longer if they know their HIV status. I wish to clarify that Government declared to the public that we will be examining you whether you want it or not and we will counsel you and tell you that you are HIV-positive and treat you. And that will remain between you and your medical practitioner,” President Lungu said.
He was addressing journalists yesterday at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport shortly before he left for Rwanda to attend today’s inauguration of Paul Kagame, as re-elected President.
President Lungu said he decided to personally comment on the matter because he is getting the impression that when one is found HIV-positive, then those results will be made public.
“Confidentiality remains part of the ethics of the medical practitioners. When we speak to you, we speak in clear and calculated language. We will check for HIV/AIDS, we will counsel you whether you are positive or negative. If you are positive we will treat you if you warrant treatment. That is what I said,” President Lungu said.
He challenged those wishing to take legal action over the matter to do so.
“Some people are saying ‘we will go to court’. Go to court if you want. But me as President, it is my responsibility to ensure Zambians live long, healthy, quality lives. But others are saying it is their constitutional right to privacy. Even in Cabinet they respect the issue of privacy,” President Lungu said.
He said as medical practitioners are taking vital statistics from patients, HIV/AIDS tests will also be undertaken.
The President said Zambians should learn to listen and talk less.
“You are saying ‘Lungu is a dictator’ because he wants to help you by knowing your HIV status so that if your viral load is already beyond, then you are put on medication. Your family needs you, Zambia needs you, if some people do not care about you,” President Lungu said.
He was seen off by Vice-President Inonge Wina, Patriotic Front secretary general Davies Mwila and some ministers.
Meanwhile, Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya says 81 percent of deaths at the University Teaching Hospital are HIV-related, and one million Zambians have died from HIV and AIDS since 1988.
Dr Chilufya said 1.2 million Zambians are HIV positive and less than 85 percent are on anti-retroviral treatment.
He said the American Government, through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), has approved US$401 million for HIV treatment in Zambia.
He said that the Global Fund has also given Zambia US$270 million HIV treatment.
Dr Chilufya warned that Government will deregister health personnel who disclose confidential information about the status of individuals without their consent.
He said the decision should not be misinterpreted as an infringement of human rights as it is aimed at protecting people’s lives.
“Who tells you it’s your human right to kill yourself by not testing? Is it also a human right to infect a young girl? We will not continue doing things the same and expect positive results,” he said.
The minister said this yesterday at the Patriotic Front (PF) media interactive forum.
He said HIV mandatory testing is aimed at saving people’s lives and it should not in any way be politicised.

SOURCE:
http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/fear-not-says-lungu/

Comments

CUBA CLAIMS CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER IS FIDEL CASTRO'S SON.

The suicide note left by Fidel Castro’s eldest son has rocked the Cuban nation this week, with the most astonishing revelation being the claim that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was his half-brother and the son of the late Fidel Castro. The handwritten note left by Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, 68, the eldest of Fidel Castro’s children, appears to confirm the longstanding rumor in Cuba that Fidel Castro fathered Justin Trudeau after a public tryst with Margaret Trudeau in 1970. “ Castro Diaz-Balart, who had been attended by a group of doctors for several months due to a state of profound depression, committed suicide this morning ,” Cubadebate website reported. The death of the high-profile government nuclear scientist, also known as “Fidelito”, or Little Fidel, because of how much he looked like his father, stunned the nation, however it is his “ explosive ” suicide note that has set tongues wagging in Havana. Amid a wide-ranging barrage of compl...

ZAMBIA TO BAN FOREIGNERS FROM OWNING LAND.

Zambian Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mrs.Jean Kapata. Image: LT. The Zambian government has proposed to ban the ownership of land by foreigners. The government is also seeking to review existing long term leases and the land in question cannot be disposed of, sold or exchanged without prior consultation with and approval by the government. In its draft policy unveiled by Lands Minister Jean Kapata, the government hopes to regulate access to land by non-Zambians. The state wants to restrict ownership of land, both state and customary to Zambians only. If the policy is adopted, it will only provide for sub-leasing and or renting of land only by non Zambians. This is the first comprehensive land policy framework since Zambia’s independence. To date, land policy was in form of Ministerial Statements in Parliament, Presidential pronouncements and the Administrative Circular No 1, 1985 that has guided the system of land allocation and the Lands ...

WOMAN WHO HAD 44 CHILDREN BY 36 YEARS-OLD BANNED FROM HAVING MORE BABIES.

Kampala, UGANDA: Mariam Nabatanzi had her first set of twins when she was just 13 and has since had another five sets, three sets of quads and four sets of triplets Mariam Nabatanzi suffers from a rare genetic condition and had given birth to 44 children by the age of 36. Tragically, Mariam has been left to raise her massive family alone after her husband walked out on her almost four years ago. Now 40, doctors have taken action to stop Mariam having more children after it emerged her father had 45 children with several different women. Mariam has three sets of quadruplets, four sets of triplets and six sets of twins and incredibly manages to care for and feed them all on her own. The fertile mum was just 12 when she was married to her husband, who at 40 was 28 years her senior. Just a year later she gave birth to her first set of twins. Now, she and all of her kids have no choice to live in appallingly cramped conditions in just four ...

ZIMBABWEAN SOLDIERS TRADE GUNS FOR GUITARS.

Harare, ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe National Army Mechanised Brigade Inkomo Barracks music outfit Crocodile Sounds on Friday night traded their guns for guitars as they launched their debut nine-track album, Garwe Rauya, at Old Hararians Sports Club in Harare. The guest of honour at the poorly-attended launch, chief-of-staff (administration) Paul Chima dismissed claims that the name Crocodile Sounds was associated with President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is also known as Ngwena. “The name Crocodile is apolitical as it resembles the emblem of Mechanised Brigade which is the crocodile. Most of you may think that we are saying Garwe Rauya because of the political situation that is attuning in the country,” He said. The Mechanised Brigade played a critical role in the military takeover which saw the removal of former President Robert Mugabe in November last year with armoured vehicles rolled from Inkomo to Harare CBD on the day. Chima said the unveiling of the album ...

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT DEADLY LISTERIOSIS.

CAPE TOWN: Thirty-six people have died in South Africa from an outbreak of the food-borne disease listeriosis , the country’s Department of Health said on Tuesday. Cause Listeriosis is a serious but rare infection, mainly caused by eating food contaminated with the bacteria listeria monocytogenes which is found in soil, water and vegetation. It is usually present in raw milk and other dairy products. People usually contract it through animal products and fresh fruits and vegetables. Listeria can thrive in cold temperatures and the only way to kill these bacteria is cooking and pasteurisation. Symptoms of listeriosis The disease causes flu-like symptoms and can lead to nausea, diarrhoea, infection of the bloodstream and brain. Risk factors of listeria infection Pregnant women, the elderly or individuals with a weakened immune system, i.e. people in immuno-compromised status due to HIV/Aids, leukaemia, cancer, kidney transplant and steroid therapy, are ...

NAMIBIA VOWS TO GRAB FARMS FROM WHITE FARMERS.

Okahandja, NAMIBIA: Vibrant rows of neatly lined plants grow on a patch once trampled by the cattle of a large commercial farm run by a family of German descent in Namibia. From that 2,400 square-meter rectangle of sand in the northern Otjozondjupa region, Kornelius Hamasab, 69, now produces spinach, onions and tomatoes. Hamasab is among the 16 percent of black Namibians owning arable land in the semi-desert southwest African nation. White Namibians, who are descended from former colonizers Germany and South Africa and make up six percent of the population, own 70 percent of the land. "It doesn't seem right to me," said Hamasab, who acquired his land as compensation five years after the farm downsized into a guesthouse in 2000 and laid off its staff. "The government should do something about it," he added, while his family picked and rinsed collared greens to be sold in the capital Windhoek, 150 kilometers away. Namibia adopted ...

MINERS IN NAMIBIA DISCOVER SHIPWRECK LOADED $13 MILLION WORTH OF GOLD.

Image: Dieter Noli. Diamond miners working off the coast of Africa were beyond surprised when they discovered a 500-year-old shipwreck teeming with gold worth $13 million and other treasures. The ship, aptly named ‘Bom Jesus’ or ‘Good Jesus,’ was like a miracle to the miners. Bom Jesus was first identified and discovered by geologists working for the mining company De Beers in 2008. It was found off the coast of Namibia near Oranjemund. Image: Dieter Noli. According to experts, Bom Jesus is from the Golden era of Portuguese explorers who set sail in all directions in search of new lands to colonize. The ship left Lisbon in 1533 under the supervision of Sir Francisco de Noronha. But on its way to India, it mysteriously vanished. Before the discovery, the miners were draining an artificial salt lake. As the lake dried out, many lost ships were found at the bottom of the lake. Bom Jesus was among them, and it is considered the oldest of all ...

MISS THAILAND CALLED ‘UGLY’ AND ‘NEGRO’ BY GOVERNMENT SUPPORTERS.

Pacharaporn “Nam” Chantarapadit is crowned as the Miss Grand Thailand 2020 on Sept. 20, 2020. Image: Khaosod. Bangkok, THAILAND: The winner of Miss Grand Thailand 2020 pageant contest came under fire Monday from pro-establishment netizens for siding with the anti-government protests. Pacharaporn “Nam” Chantarapadit, 22, was crowned the winner on Sunday night after a round of question-and-answer section, in which contestants were asked for their opinions about the protest that was unfolding in Bangkok’s historic quarter. The winners of Miss Grand Thailand 2020 competition. Image: Khaosod. “From my heart, I pick the protesters,” Nam, who represented Rayong, said. “We have rights to express our views and we want to choose what’s best for our country. More than that, I want to say to the government.” She went on in English, “If you calling this country Thailand, we need a real democracy. And moreover, we need you to get out of the country!” Watch the Video below: Supporter...

ALBERT EINSTEIN'S PRIVATE DIARIES REVEAL HIS RACIST VIEWS.

Newly translated into English, Albert Einstein’s private travel diaries from the 1920s reveal that he was racist in his early life, especially toward Chinese people. The diaries were written between October 1922 and March 1923. In one entry Einstein wrote that the “Chinese don’t sit on benches while eating but squat like Europeans do when they relieve themselves out in the leafy woods. All this occurs quietly and demurely. Even the children are spiritless and look obtuse.” Speaking about the “abundance of offspring” and the “fecundity” of the Chinese, he continued: “It would be a pity if these Chinese supplant all other races. For the likes of us the mere thought is unspeakably dreary.” Einstein also derided the people of Ceylon, which is now known as Sri Lanka. In Ceylon, he wrote, the locals “live in great filth and considerable stench at ground level,” before adding they “do little and need little. The simple economic cycle of life.” Einstein also gave his thou...

THE HISTORIC HANDSHAKE BETWEEN KIM JONG UN & TRUMP.

SINGAPORE : President Trump and Kim Jong-un of North Korea shook hands at the start of their first face-to-face meeting Tuesday, a momentous step in an improbable courtship that has opened a new chapter for the world’s largest nuclear power and the most reclusive one. Tap To Watch The Video Below: Brash, impulsive leaders who only a few months ago taunted each other across a nuclear abyss, Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim had set aside their threats in a gamble that for now, at least, personal diplomacy can overcome decades of distrust. In a carefully choreographed encounter, Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim greeted each other in the red-carpeted reception area of a Singapore hotel built on the site of a British colonial outpost — the first time a sitting American president and North Korean leader have ever met. After photographs, the two men, alone except for their interpreters, were scheduled to meet privately to try to resolve the crisis over North Korea’s nuclear program. ...

Kioo17 Journal

Search This Blog