By Petronella Sibeene
WINDHOEK
The Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Libertina Amathila, has condemned government office-bearers for dealing with topical issues such as HIV/AIDS in a politically correct manner while in actual fact they fail to commit themselves.
Amathila said this in Windhoek yesterday when she addressed government permanent secretaries.
According to her, leaders in the public sector – both at the political and administrative levels – should stop regarding HIV/AIDS as a health issue only.
She said HIV/AIDS is a developmental issue with huge social and economic impact and, as such, leaders in government, both on the political and administrative level, needed to internalize this understanding.
Leaders’ failure to internalize issues surrounding the disease has resulted in the destruction of the social fibre, she added.
Amathila stressed that it was critical that government leaders begin to internalize the implications of this pandemic and realise the threat it holds for children and all Namibians.
While most Namibians today talk about the disease openly, there is still a great need to break the silence around the disease especially in the workplace.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the pandemic affects service delivery in some key sectors of the country.
“As previous Minister of Health, I have come to realise that whilst we were addressing the pandemic successfully through our national health programmes, we did not do enough for our own health employees,” she noted.
Despite permanent secretaries being tasked with the wellbeing of employees, they have failed to carry out their sectoral obligations such as the National Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS, commonly known as MTPIII.
“Government as the biggest employer clearly needs to respond and this response must be led by you. You have to create an enabling environment that will allow your focal persons and teams to mainstream HIV/AIDS strategies into your mandates and functions,” Amathila told permanent secretaries.
She stressed that permanent secretaries should also understand the effects of the pandemic in order to give the right support to HIV/AIDS focal persons.
“You as permanent secretaries in turn need to continuously understand the effects the pandemic is having on your ministries, in order to give support to your HIV/AIDS focal persons and their teams,” she added.
The deputy premier said if success were to be achieved, this couldn’t be relegated to the clerical levels of the public service and as such focal persons need to be positioned for impact.
Performance needs to be monitored and evaluated regularly to ensure results. If no improvement takes place, Amathila said, the appointment of focal persons might have to be reviewed.
“In my view, the correct attitude and enduring passion for this work should be part of the personal profile when we select focal persons. Skills can be added later through the available training,” Amathila said.
Overall, HIV prevalence from the 2006 survey was 19.9 percent, representing an increase of 0.02 percent compared to 2004, which recorded a prevalence rate of 19.7 percent, the 2006 National Sentinel Survey Report shows.