'Know your status' drive needs $12.5m and people's cooperation

The success of Lesotho's plan to increase access to HIV/AIDS treatment will depend on a national commitment to being tested for the virus and a R75 million (US $12.5 million) financial boost. Motloheloa Phooko, Minister of Health and Social Welfare, said at a press conference on Wednesday that "the money needed will be used in the two years of the campaign to mobilise people to know their status - but getting the money alone will not make the campaign a success unless Basotho [Lesotho people] own up to the programme and get tested". Lesotho's 'Know Your Status' campaign, the first of its kind worldwide, will offer confidential and voluntary HIV testing and counselling with the aim of reaching all households by the end of 2007. The funds will be used to employ counselling and testing personnel, print educational material and purchase vehicles for the campaign. With an adult prevalence rate of 23.2 percent in a population of 1.8 million, it is estimated that 265,000 people in Lesotho are living with HIV/AIDS, and 49,400 are already in need of life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. The number could be higher, as national statistics indicate that only 72,000 people have been tested to date, with less than 10,000 receiving ARVs. Despite massive HIV/AIDS campaigns, very little behavioural change had been observed, Phooko said. The programme, launched by the King on World AIDS day in 2005, will use the same model employed by immunisation programmes: extensive community mobilisation and education, followed by door-to-door visits. Communities will decide how and when their members will be offered HIV/AIDS testing and counselling, and independent people's committees will be established at local, district and national level to ensure that testing is always voluntary, confidentiality is maintained and post-testing services, including treatment, are provided. Lesotho has been testing and treating people free of charge at all hospitals, and plans are underway to make ARV treatment available at all community clinics. Jim Yong Kim, Director of the World Health Organisation, praised the Know Your Status campaign last year, saying, "Lesotho's initiative is an excellent example of this global trend towards expanding and integrating prevention and treatment efforts. Many nations like Lesotho are now empowered to develop exciting, bold programmes that directly confront the epidemic."