Napham courts support groups
National Association of People Living with HIV and Aids in Malawi (Napham) acting executive director Paul Manyamba has asked HIV and Aids support groups in Karonga to demystify Covid-19 vaccine misinformation.
He said this on Wednesday during a meeting with support group leaders on the need to disseminate the right Covid-19 information to people living with HIV.
“Just like HIV and Aids, Covid-19 is amid us. So, our members should have the right information on Covid-19 preventive measures because they are at high risk due to their weak immunity,” said Manyamba.
He also bemoaned misinformation on the Covid-19 vaccine and asked the support groups to address them in their communities.
On her part, Chigomezgo Support Group chairperson Mirriam Msiska commended the initiative, saying it will help members understand how they can protect themselves from the pandemic.
“We will disseminate the message among members and encourage them to get vaccinated,” she said.
Msiska also took advantage of the meeting to ask Napham to revamp support groups for members to get advice on HIV and Aids related messages to reduce numbers of anti-retroviral drug defaulters.
In response, Manyamba said plans are underway to revamp support groups in the country to scale up capacity building on HIV and Covid-19 preventive measures.
He has since asked government to procure additional viral load testing machines as the available ones are also being used for testing Covid-19 patients, which is affecting monitoring of HIV and Aids patients.
