SWABCHA changes name to EBH
MBABANE – The Swaziland Business Coalition on HIV and AIDS (SWABCHA) will now be known as Eswatini Business Health and Wellness (EBH).
This was mentioned by the Board Chairperson Mvuselelo Fakudze during the World AIDS Day commemoration held at Emafini Country Lodge on Wednesday. He said it had been a long journey for the organisation as it initially started with a mandate to combat HIV, but had since broken into the COVID-19 space.
He said there was no liSwati who could say they had not been affected by HIV/ AIDS in one way or the other; either directly or through extended family or even immediate family. “HIV/AIDS has affected our parents, our brothers and sisters as well as our friends,” he said.
He highlighted that HIV/AIDS was no longer a death sentence and people needed to continue checking their status. He said emaSwati needed to look beyond just HIV/AIDS and acknowledge that there were other diseases such as cervical cancer that people needed to be on the lookout for. “We need to be more vigilant when it comes to our bodies and check what our bodies are fighting against. Health and wellness is a very important part of the business sector and even I make sure that I do a test every year,” he said.
Commemoration
He said the commemoration was in remembrance of those who had paid the ultimate price which was the loss of life. “Imagine what happened in the 80’s and the 90’s when people went to hospital to literally die. We need to be grateful to have survived the times of HIV/AIDS before ARVs, which is why we encourage people to vaccinate during these times of the pandemic because there is a solution,” added Fakudze.
He said the commemoration was to celebrate that the country had made an achievement and was able to ensure that less people were hospitalised for HIV.
In her remarks the UNAIDS Eswatini Country Director, Rose Craigue, said people across the globe had questioned how Eswatini was able to change the situation from being the country with the worst HIV situation to being able to achieve the 95, 95, 95 target which included ensuring that people knew their status. “We were able to sustain this achievement as of end of year last year even when the COVID-19 pandemic had hit the globe which was a really difficult year for everyone,” said Craigue.
Inequality
Craigfe said Eswatini had come a long way as a country but there was still a lot of work that needed to be done. “If we are to end AIDS by 2030, then we must end inequality, we need to ensure that we are leaving absolutely nobody behind,” she said.
She went on to encourage that with such successes, emaSwati needed to continue to vaccinate. She said according to records most people that got infected by the COVID-19 virus were either not vaccinated or had other illnesses such as HIV and diabetes among others. “We encourage people to vaccinate and we are happy to also confirm our continued partnership with EBH to the coming year of 2022 to ensure that our health sector continues to strive,” she added.
The Director of Corporate Affairs of the National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA), Thembi Gama, also confirmed their commitment to an extension of a partnership with the renamed SWABCHA.
She said the structural inequalities have obstructed proven and known solutions to overcoming the HIV pandemic. “In 2015 all countries pledged to reduce inequality within and between countries as part of a sustainable development goal,” said Gama.
The Chief Executive Officer of EBH Thobile Dlamini also highlighted that if a business did not have a good wellness programme then they would face several cases of sick leaves and absenteeism.
She said it was very important that businesses also took mental health very serious as their employees were the wheels of their organisations. “If you are a member of EBH you will be able to manage employee situations better as we also offer training among other means of assistance,” said Dlamini.