The Prime Minister, Mr. Pakalitha Mosisili, on May 8 officially opened the Senkatana Centre at Bots'abelo in Maseru, hailing it as marking the introduction, availability and access to antiretroviral therapy by the public sector in Lesotho.

The Centre offers the first national antiretroviral (ARV) programme that also provides a learning centre for the roll out of ARVs and will work in close collaboration with the private sector, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and communities to provide training for service providers and home based care support services for people living with HIV and AIDS, Mr. Mosisili said.

The Centre is a joint venture by the Government of Lesotho and the Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) Foundation through its Secure The Future programme. The Foundation has invested more than
US$100million in Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland over the past five years, the Prime Minister said, adding that Basotho were indebted to the Foundation for this invaluable support, a gift of life to many Basotho infected by HIV. 

Initially the Centre will provide clinical services for outpatients, counseling and training for service providers with facilities for in-patients provided later. Government will also provide the bulk of the drugs for treatment of opportunistic infections, assist service providers to assure quality care for the patients as well as advocacy for universal HIV testing and counseling.

Mr. Mosisili appealed to Basotho to join in the national campaign and education on HIV and AIDS which aims at showing and destigmatizing the disease so that communities can give support to infected people without fear.  

Presenting a M27 500 000 cheque to the Minister of Health and Social Welfare Dr. Motloheloa Phooko to support community based treatment support projects for three years, .Bristol Myers Squibb Vice President Mr. John McGoldrick  said the inauguration of the Senkatana Centre, as one of the five community based HIV and AIDS treatment support programmes in Southern African, marks the fifth anniversary of the Foundation's commitment to fight the pandemic in the world's hardest hit region.

The Foundation, through its Secure The Future Program has invested more than US$100 million aimed at capacity building, monitoring and evaluation for sustainable HIV and AIDS programmes in the five Sub-Saharan countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland, he said.

10 May 2004