MOZAMBIQUE: Mozambique granted US $11.5 million for AIDS programme

Mozambique granted US $11.5 million for AIDS programme

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has granted US $11.5 million dollars to Mozambique for an anti-HIV/AIDS programme, AFP reported on Tuesday.

The programme, called the Development Corridor of Hope, will involve individuals and communities living along the Maputo Development Corridor - a key road and rail link between South Africa and Mozambique - in the distribution of information designed to combat HIV/AIDS and encourage safe sexual practices, the report said. The southern provinces of Gaza and Inhambane, where large numbers of people are infected, would also be covered by the programme. Many Mozambican workers from Gaza and Inhambane moved to South Africa to work in the mines and are believed to have brought AIDS back to their native provinces from the neighbouring country. According to the report, Mozambique's anti-AIDS programme would also aim to improve health care for those living with HIV/AIDS and to tackle the discrimination they encountered in their communities.

An agreement formalising the grant for the programme from the US government agency was signed late Monday by USAID country director Cynthia Rozell and Graca Machel, Mozambique's former first lady and now head of local non-governmental organisation, the Community Development Foundation (FDC). The FDC will oversee the implementation of the programme.

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