UNZA, SA, Kenya & Canada launch HIV website

The University of Zambia and its partners in South Africa, Kenya and Canada have launched website aimed at helping health worker improve the quality of life of adults and children living with HIV.

Speaking during the launch in Lusaka today, International Centre for Disability and Rehabilitation Academic Director, Stephanie Nixon says better responses are needed to HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Professor Nixon says the rehabilitation aspect needs to be integrated into the HIV response, stressing that people with HIV are thinking about their future, being productive and raising their families hence rehabilitation can help them achieve their goals.

She states that the body problems caused by HIV require rehabilitation to help people walk, swallow, and leave independently and support themselves and their families.

Professor Nixon points out that millions of people living with HIV in sub Saharan Africa are living normal lives due to a combination of drug therapies but that the vast majority struggle to manage the many disabilities caused by the disease and its treatment.

And University of Zambia School of Medicine Head of Department, Dr. Martha Banda says the Website ssa.hivandrehab.ca will help the Institution find workable solutions to the various challenges being faced to improve the quality of life of adults and children living with HIV.

She remained optimistic that UNZA, as a pioneer training institution in the country and using the School of Medicine, will assist in bridging the skills gap and help to develop, train and produce graduates who are up to date with current technological methods.

Dr. Banda says the University of Zambia will rise up to the challenges of HIV and AIDS in the country and use its great potential to promote research, dissemination of knowledge, and intellectual debates on HIV and AIDS.

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