Around 400,000 people in the city of Maputo have already been covered by the "Testa lá" campaign, launched by the Ministry of Health (MISAU) almost four months ago, the aim of which is to massively prevent and control levels of HIV infection.

The data was revealed during a talk held recently by Tmcel-Mozambique Telecom, in partnership with MISAU and the Foundation for Community Development (FDC), on the occasion of World AIDS Day, which falls on December 1st.

On the occasion, Marlene Pereira, from the Maputo City Health Directorate, said that the "Testa lá" campaign aims to reach people through voluntary testing.

"The main aim of the programme is to make everyone aware of testing so that positive cases can start the process through antiretroviral therapy (ART) and, above all, to avoid the stigmatization of people living with HIV-AIDS, as well as the increase in new infections.

According to Marlene Pereira, data from the Parliamentary Office for the Prevention and Combat of HIV-AIDS (GPPC-HIV and AIDS), for the months of April and October 2022, indicate that more than two million people are living with HIV-AIDS in Mozambique. This makes Mozambique the country with the second highest number of people infected with the virus and the third highest burden of new infections in the world.
For his part, Orlando Vuma, head of Tmcel's Marketing Department, explained that the aim of the talk was to provide the company's employees with information on the new methods of HIV-AIDS prevention, the treatment methods available and the groups vulnerable to HIV-AIDS contamination.
"The 'Testa lá' campaign is still in its pilot phase and depending on the results it achieves, it could be replicated. In the meantime, it's more than proven that the more testing and information points are made more widespread, awareness will increase, thus minimizing the problem of HIV-AIDS," he concluded.
It should be noted that the city of Maputo currently has around 170,000 active patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART).
It should also be noted that the partnership between Tmcel and the MISAU has lasted for many years and the two have joined synergies and efforts in the area of health, carrying out various communication and awareness-raising actions on public health through the use of the operator's technological platform, actions which are already having a positive effect.