03/05/2006

Comunita di Santa� Egidio donates a lab

Comunita di Santa�Egidio Tuesday donated a newly constructed Molecular Biology Laboratory called Drug Resources Enhancement Against Aids and Malnutrition (Dream) Health Centre to Malawians.

The Dream Health Centre is situated at Mandala in Blantyre.

The Italian based community constructed the Dream Health Centre to eliminate the ongoing HIV/Aids scourge through provision of medical care follow up services including CD4 counts, viral load analysis and psychological counseling, among other things.

Minister of Health Hetherwick Ntaba, who officially opened the laboratory, said HIV/Aids is a plague.

He said the disease is robbing the country of its future and present leaders.

�HIV/Aids is taking the lives of 10 of our Malawian brothers and sisters every hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. It is forever swelling the ranks of orphaned children to over a staggering one million, the situation is heart rending,� he said.

Ntaba said the Dream Health Centre would focus on efforts to reinforce adherence to ARV regimens, including health education and peer education managed by people living with HIV/Aids with special focus on prevention of mother-to-child transmission.

Leonardo Palombi, Scientific Director of Dream Programme Comunita of Santa�Egidio, said every human being has a right to good care.

�Our dream is to win the fight against HIV/Aids in the world. Every human being has a right to good health whether in Europe or Africa,� he said.

Palombi said the fight could be won through alliances with donors such as Banca Intessa of Italy, an institution that made the dream possible.

He urged Malawians to take care of the centre.

The Dream Health Centre is one of the projects the Comunita di Santa�Egidio has constructed with similar ones to be constructed at Kapeni where the minister laid a foundation stone, Lilongwe at Mtengowanthenga and a third one yet to be built in Mzuzu.

Chatinkha Mzaza