Tebello Moalosi and Lineo Pene
MASERU — Queen ’Masenate Mohato Seeiso says she is determined to see Lesotho win the fight against HIV.
The Queen made the remarks when she donated M60 000 to the Paballong HIV/Aids Care Centre on Monday.
Queen ’Masenate said institutions such as Paballong gave hope that the battle against the pandemic can finally be won.
“It is my intention to see that in future Lesotho is amongst the countries that would have won the fight against HIV/Aids,” the Queen said.
“We are truly impressed by the excellent job you have done so far. We know the difficulties that you are faced with on a daily basis that is why we decided to offer assistance to this centre.”
The Queen encouraged local families to voluntarily get tested and accept the results so that they will be able to “live a long and happy life and be able to raise your children, who are the future of this country”.
Finance Minister Timothy Thahane, who is the patron of the centre, said Paballong was a project driven by locals.
“Basotho women and men came to me saying their concerns were that it was only foreigners who showed interest in projects that fought HIV/Aids,” Thahane said.
“They said we should form a centre by the name of Paballong to show that Basotho want to take responsibility to fight the HIV/Aids pandemic,” he said.
The centre’s deputy chairman, Mophethe Sekamane, said the centre began operations in 2007 and provides free voluntary testing and counseling, antiretroviral and treatment of opportunistic diseases including TB.
“Since its formation there have been 25 000 visitors. About 1 900 were tested for HIV/Aids and 7 631 were provided with treatment for opportunistic diseases,” Sekamane said.
“Nine hundred people tested HIV positive,” he said.
“The centre has plans to use the commercial site to build a day care centre for vulnerable children and orphans,” Sekamane said.
Paballong is situated in the Berea Plateau in Ha-Senekale, about
30 kilometres from Maseru.
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