In the opinion of experts, awareness around the fight against HIV / AIDS is overdue in the Congolese capital Kinshasa, while this pandemic continues to wreak havoc in silence.
“For this year 2020 with the Covid-19 pandemic, we tend to forget a little about HIV, while it continues to be the major concern”, deplores Aimer Mboyo, director of the National HIV / AIDS Program (PNLS).
On the ground, organizations fighting against HIV / AIDS seem to be making up for it with a few actions here and there in December.
“I admit that awareness is effective in certain corners of the city. I have noticed some motorized caravans”, says Russel Munansi, a doctor specializing in university clinics in Kinshasa.
The latter, however, criticizes the fact that these organizations are only waiting for World AIDS Day, December 1, to make themselves visible. “Awareness must be permanent, we must perpetuate it. It must be an ongoing operation “, he pleads.
With 27 years of medical practice, François Lukemba, head of a health center and an NGO for people living with disabilities, notes that access to information on HIV / AIDS is hardly of concern to young people. Kinshasa.
There is a disturbance in the environment and a communication problem which means that young people no longer pay attention to awareness, he explains.
If we compare it with the coronavirus and malaria, awareness of HIV is less and less visible, a situation that is worrying.
“Everyone is really aware of the fight against covid-19 and Malaria. We have seen the distribution of mosquito nets. There are even antimalarials that the government is distributing everywhere. Except AIDS which is a little neglected. We no longer have this will as was the case in the 1990s “, explains Joseph Masaka, an administration and nursing teacher.
All in all, awareness of the fight against HIV / AIDS in Kinshasa is below expectations.
Article written by Simon Valdo Yamba
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