KNOW YOUR STATUS CAMPAIGN A BOLD STEP – DR MONYAMANE
	Maseru, June 13 - Local medical practitioner and HIV/AIDS trainer, Dr 'Molotsi Monyamane says the launching of Know Your Status campaign is one of the bold steps taken by the government of Lesotho. Officially opening a three day African Dialogue on AIDS Care (ADAC) meeting at Lesotho Sun on Monday, Dr Monyamane urged the public to know their status while they are still productive as the government will support them with drugs, adding that the current percentages of people infected with HIV/AIDS, which is 23.2% is still high and it is only through joint efforts that the situation could be redressed. He expressed confidence in Lesotho's endeavours to achieve the 6th millennium development challenge of combating HIV/AIDS, and further commended the government of Lesotho for recognizing HIV/AIDS as a state of emergency in the country. He said the recent establishment of the National Aids Commission (NAC) shows that Lesotho is on the right track to realize the target of having the spread of HIV/AIDS reversed by 2015. The Chief Executive of NAC Mr. Keketso Sefeane said HIV/AIDS continues to pose a major development challenge in the country despite numerous interventions adding that the epidemic remains clearly ahead of government efforts with the prevalence rate of 28.9% as of 2003. He expressed hope that participants would have fruitful deliberations during the dialogue that would come up with the best practices of management of HIV/AIDS. Speaking at the same occasion, Chairperson of ADAC Dr. Peter Mugyenyi of Uganda explained that ADAC aims at reviewing in depth the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the African region, paying attention to its current factors that fuelled it and how to overcome them. He mentioned that while care and treatment were widely available in wealthy countries, there was virtually no therapy available in Africa in 2000 where the disease is rampant, raising serious equity and moral issues. He said that is when African countries joined together to see what could be done to reduce the pandemic hence the establishment of ADAC in 2001. ADAC was established with the aim of fostering dialogue on AIDS Care and coordinate activities that would inform the continent on best practices to control the epidemic and advance care and treatment to the millions already infected and dying of AIDS. The meeting brought African countries together to discuss and share experiences on best management of HIV/AIDS, and ended on Wednesday.
	Source: LENA