HEALTH Minister Selibe Mochoboroane says at least 1 367 workers in the health sector are at risk of losing their jobs following the suspension of critical aid by the United States government.
He said the government needs to raise over M111.2 million to retain the professionals amid fears that the funding crisis could negatively affect the Test and Treat AIDS policy in Lesotho.
Mochoboroane says the government of Lesotho will also need to raise an additional M181.2 million to cover the gap left by the US aid cut.
Over the past four months, Mochoboroane has sought to project an image of calmness, to reassure Basotho that all was well.
His address in parliament this week continues that same pattern, with the Minister batting away any fears that Lesotho could be heading towards a crisis in managing HIV/AIDS.
Mochoboroane has in the past assured Basotho that the withdrawal of US funding will not hurt Lesotho. He said Lesotho buys 83 percent of its anti-retroviral medicines with the USAID supplying the remaining 17 percent.
A confidential memo seen by this newspaper last month however painted a picture that seemed to suggest that things were not as rosy as the minister sought to portray. That memo punctured that sense of bravado with indications that the government was beginning to ration HIV drugs in hospitals.
Despite the Minister’s reassurances, there are fears, which are quite understandable, that we could be heading towards the dark, scary days of the early 2000’s when a positive HIV diagnosis was a virtual death sentence.
The reality, as we have argued in previous editorials, is that we are now on our own. The USAID is not coming back. As long as Donald Trump remains firmly ensconced in the White House.
That means Lesotho, like many other countries affected by the withdrawal of US funding, will need to look for new innovative ways of mobilizing resources to close the gap.
This struggle goes beyond the supply of ARVs.
It speaks of the need to resuscitate the distribution channels that were being used by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) so effectively for the past two decades.
It speaks of the need to restart the prevention initiatives that had worked so well to keep HIV under the leash. These initiatives were successfully being pushed by NGOs.
The Lesotho government will need to get patients to adhere to HIV treatment regimes.
The expertise and research done by the NGOs in the fight against AIDS will obviously take time to be replicated by government ministries.
This represents quite a humongous amount of work that needs to be done if we are to win the fight against HIV. It requires massive funding, beyond just the supply of ARVs.
This is perhaps why we are persuaded not to downplay the huge amount of challenges that Lesotho is facing on the health front. Apart from the politicking we gain nothing by downplaying those challenges.
Instead, this is the time to shout out to friends, wherever they are, that our house is on fire. And that we need help. Urgently.
Now is the time to replicate the systems set by the NGOs and consolidate the fight against HIV. That should start by prioritising our own health sector by ensuring it is adequately funded.
We must mobilise every little penny from domestic sources to help fight HIV.
We must spend more on primary health services and the village health worker, the first responders on the ground.
We must go aggressive on lifestyle reorientation to fight diseases before they become much more complicated to treat.
If this is not done, we run the risk of facing a return to the dark, scary days when HIV was a death sentence.
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