CARE Zambia’s Sebastian Kasabo and Bryan Baleke Ng’ambi have shared with us a story on Chieftainess Mwanjabanthu of Mwanjabanthu Chiefdom in Petauke District who has been working closely with CARE Zambia’s Integrated Tuberculosis and AIDS Program (ITAP II) to ensure that the people in her chiefdom are protected from preventable diseases like HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis. Funded by the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention, ITAP II is a five year project (2010-2015) that focuses on three areas; tuberculosis and HIV linkage, counseling and testing for HIV positive individuals, and prevention of mother to child HIV transmission. Through ITAP II, CARE Zambia is working with the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Zambia to reduce the transmission of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis among the most vulnerable populations in Petauke, Chadiza and Chama districts of Eastern Province, reaching more than 540,000 people. From 2010 to date, the project has helped 60,925 people receive Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) care, 127,942 people have received counselling and testing, 2, 197 have been tested for TB and a total of 82,816 referrals were made for the first Antenatal Care (ANC), Counseling and testing (CT), and for HIV and TB screening.
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Chieftainess Mwanjabanthu Makes a Difference - ITAP II
CARE Zambia’s Sebastian Kasabo and Bryan Baleke Ng’ambi have shared with us a story on Chieftainess Mwanjabanthu of Mwanjabanthu Chiefdom in Petauke District who has been working closely with CARE Zambia’s Integrated Tuberculosis and AIDS Program (ITAP II) to ensure that the people in her chiefdom are protected from preventable diseases like HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis. Funded by the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention, ITAP II is a five year project (2010-2015) that focuses on three areas; tuberculosis and HIV linkage, counseling and testing for HIV positive individuals, and prevention of mother to child HIV transmission. Through ITAP II, CARE Zambia is working with the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Zambia to reduce the transmission of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis among the most vulnerable populations in Petauke, Chadiza and Chama districts of Eastern Province, reaching more than 540,000 people. From 2010 to date, the project has helped 60,925 people receive Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) care, 127,942 people have received counselling and testing, 2, 197 have been tested for TB and a total of 82,816 referrals were made for the first Antenatal Care (ANC), Counseling and testing (CT), and for HIV and TB screening.
CARE Zambia’s Sebastian Kasabo and Bryan Baleke Ng’ambi have shared with us a story on Chieftainess Mwanjabanthu of Mwanjabanthu Chiefdom in Petauke District who has been working closely with CARE Zambia’s Integrated Tuberculosis and AIDS Program (ITAP II) to ensure that the people in her chiefdom are protected from preventable diseases like HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis. Funded by the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention, ITAP II is a five year project (2010-2015) that focuses on three areas; tuberculosis and HIV linkage, counseling and testing for HIV positive individuals, and prevention of mother to child HIV transmission. Through ITAP II, CARE Zambia is working with the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Zambia to reduce the transmission of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis among the most vulnerable populations in Petauke, Chadiza and Chama districts of Eastern Province, reaching more than 540,000 people. From 2010 to date, the project has helped 60,925 people receive Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) care, 127,942 people have received counselling and testing, 2, 197 have been tested for TB and a total of 82,816 referrals were made for the first Antenatal Care (ANC), Counseling and testing (CT), and for HIV and TB screening.
Formeaningfuldevelopmenttooccuratdifferent levels, we need to have people who are very healthy, fit and productive. It is only healthy and productivepeoplethathavethepotentialtobring about meaningful development, says her Royal Highness Chieftainess Mwanjabanthu of Mwanjabanthu Chiefdom.
Mwanjabanthu Chiefdom is in the Western part of Petauke District in Eastern Province and is about 45 Kilometers away from Petauke Boma, off Great East road. The Chiefdom is surrounded by both subsistence and commercial farmers, with a catchment population of 14061, making it one of the biggest Chiefdoms in the district. It shares boarders with Mozambique on the Southern West part of the district and Sinda district in the East. It is headed by Her Royal Highness Chieftainess Mwanjabanthu who has been instrumental in the fight against HIV/AIDS from the time she ascended to the throne. Before she became Chieftainess, women in this chiefdom knew very little about Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) of the HIV virus and Institutional deliveries of babies. They believed so much in traditional healers and were of the idea that home deliveries were the best and safest means of bringing a child into the world. Unfortunately, this resulted into numerous births of HIV positive babies, with most of them dying before reaching the age of 5. To make matters worse, these deaths were associated with witchcraft and this brought about hatred amongst families and communities due to innocent people being accused of causing the deaths. They were also a lot of myths and misconceptions surrounding institutional deliveries and this prevented pregnant mothers from accessing Antenatal Care (ANC) services, including those that knew that they were HIV positive. This meant that the innocent unborn babies were at risk of contracting the HIV virus from their HIV positive mothers. Because the community did not know that by going to health centers for antenatal care, HIV positive pregnant mothers could receive the necessary support to prevent the baby from getting the HIV virus from the mother, they continued conducting home deliveries that put their babies at risk of contracting the virus. According to the Mwanjabantu Rural health center records, out of 10 pregnancies, 70% were home deliveries and these came with a lot of complications which not only endangered the life of the unborn child, but the mother as well. When her Royal Highness Chieftainess Mwanjabanthu came into power, she decided to take up a leading role in community sensitization on HIV/AIDS related issues in order to improve the health of her community. I decided to take up a leading role in community mobilization, because I want to be a Chieftainess of a healthy community, she said. I do realize that for me to have a productive community I need a health community. Therefore, to protect her community from dying from preventable illnesses, the Chieftainess became actively involved with CARE Zambias Integrated Tuberculosis and AIDS Program (ITAP II) which is working with the Zambian Government through the Ministry of Health to reduce the transmission of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis among the most vulnerable populations in the Petauke, Chadiza and Chama districts of Eastern Province, reaching more than 540,000 people. ITAP II is a five year project (2010-2015) funded by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The project focuses on three areas: tuberculosis and HIV linkage, counseling and testing for HIV positive individuals, and prevention of mother to child HIV transmission. Working with the project, Her Royal Highness Chieftainess Mwanjabanthu has taken up a leading role in her community to sensitize the people on the need and importance of Counselling and Testing, Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT), TB and HIV/AIDS testing, as well as the importance of engaging men these activities. One strategy she has used to address these issues is by talking about them whenever she has meetings in the chiefdom. According to the Chieftainess, men who refuse to escort their spouses for Antenatal Care are summoned and punished. Therefore, for fear of being punished, men have put themselves in the forefront to encourage their spouses and accompany them to the health centers to receive antenatal care throughout their pregnancies. Her Royal Highness finds time in her busy schedule to meet with Community Based Volunteers at least twice in a month to conduct sensitizations at Mwanjabanthu Health Center. These Community Based Volunteers have been trained by CARE through ITAP II to assist health facilities in providing services to the community such as counselling and HIV testing, door to door collection of samples for TB testing which are then delivered to the health centers for testing, conducting follow-ups in homes of patients receiving care from the health centers, providing PMTCT services to expectant mothers, and sensitizing communities on HIV/AIDS and TB related issues. Her Royal Highness Chieftainess Mwanjabanthu has also been very proactive and supportive in community mobilization especially in the fight against HIV/AIDS. I do not want to see my people die due to lack of information, she said, her face glistering with conviction. Why should they die young when we have ARVs to prolong their lives? Why should we let the babies die prematurely when we have Niverapine to prolong their lives? she asked. The leading role taken up by Her Royal highness in the fight against HIV/AIDS has not only encouraged the Community based Volunteers but also the ordinary members of the community who have also taken it upon themselves to join the fight against HIV and other preventable diseases. As a result of her active involvement in all these activities, more people are now going to the health facility for Counselling and Testing, PMTCT, and receiving other health services. With the knowledge attained from community sensitization, members of the community are now able to discuss HIV/AIDS related issues freely at different gatherings