MOZAMBIQUE: "CHANGE BEGINS WITH US" - PRESIDENT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MAPUTO 000237 SIPDIS SIPDIS AF/S - H.TREGER, D.MOZENA AF/PD - L.MING, P.ZABRISKIE S/GAC - TOBIAS, M.DYBUL,N.SHIEFF, J.PETERSON PASS USAID FOR AA/AFR AND AFR/SA MCC FOR WATSON, GAULL, AND HARRINGTON E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KHIV TSPL OSCI TBIO KSCA EAID KPAO OIIP MZ SUBJECT: MOZAMBIQUE: "CHANGE BEGINS WITH US" - PRESIDENT GUEBUZA LAUNCHES HISTORIC INITIATIVE TO COMBAT HIV/AIDS REF: 05 MAPUTO 1562 MAPUTO 00000237 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. Summary: President Guebuza launched an historic Presidential Initiative to Combat HIV/AIDS with a succession of town hall meetings February 16-19 involving civil society and the private commercial sector. Displaying exceptional openness and engagement, he chaired each meeting personally and encouraged participants to openly debate controversial topics. By engaging citizens from all sectors, Guebuza is seeking to find a "Mozambican solution" to rising HIV/AIDS prevalence in the country. President Guebuza's energized and innovative approach is exactly the sort of dedicated leadership the Mission is encouraging through the Emergency Plan. End Summary. Including all Citizens -------------- ¶2. President Guebuza launched his Presidential Initiative by meeting with various women,s organizations; according to the most recent statistics, women have the highest infection rates in the country. Meetings then followed with youth and student groups, representatives from the business sector, and religious leaders. The final meeting was held with community leaders, including traditional healers, representing 80 targeted districts from Mozambique,s 11 provinces. This last, impressive gathering marked the first time in the country,s history that community leaders from every corner of this nation had assembled together. Single Greatest Threat to Mozambique -------------- ¶3. Guebuza began each meeting with a brief but impassioned message emphasizing the devastation that HIV/AIDS is wreaking in Mozambique and imploring participants to understand that the pandemic is the single greatest threat to the country,s future. "Police are sick and dying and can,t work; teachers and nurses also. Heads of households have died because of the illness, and when they die they leave children. Who will take care of them? These children grow up never having learned to say Mom, or Dad., They,re left with the elderly already too old to work in the fields or provide for (their) needs." He underscored how important it is to stop the pandemic now, lest Mozambique become a country of children and the elderly, with no workforce left to lead the country into the future. A Home-Grown Solution -------------- ¶4. Religious leaders emphasized the promotion of abstinence and fidelity as essential to stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS. Also stressed was the need to present culturally appropriate prevention messages in harmony with Mozambican customs and delivered in indigenous languages. Community leaders pushed for a National AIDS Council (CNCS) presence at district and provincial levels, with increased involvement in information sharing and public awareness campaigns. Change Begins With Us -------------- ¶5. President Guebuza presided personally over each meeting, listening intently and patiently to participants as they shared all sorts of ideas about why the current approach to prevention was not sufficient to reduce the spread of the disease. Participants alluded to the "provocative" dress of women, the presence of foreigners in Mozambique, to soap operas, the youth's lack of respect for themselves and their elders, and to a decline in values as causal factors for the continued spread of the disease. Guebuza resisted participants' attempts to blame others, saying that since HIV/AIDS in Mozambique is transmitted primarily through sexual intercourse, this puts the responsibility on both parties. He appealed to participants to assume personal responsibility and to change their own attitudes and behavior in order to stem the tide of the pandemic, repeating the slogan, "Change begins with us." MAPUTO 00000237 002.2 OF 002 Comment -------------- ¶6. The four-day opening of Guebuza,s Presidential Initiative to Combat HIV/AIDS was a great success, and clearly places the HIV/AIDS pandemic front and center on the national agenda. Throughout the meetings, with rooms always filled to capacity, Guebuza broached difficult topics - emphasizing the importance of abstinence, fidelity, condom use, and personal responsibility as key factors in stemming the spread of the disease. He stressed the need to mobilize people to go for voluntary testing and to increase the availability of anti-retroviral treatment. Guebuza spoke passionately about how Mozambicans must reclaim the part of their cultural heritage that does not allow them to stigmatize or ostracize those infected and affected, particularly orphans and vulnerable children. ¶7. Through the Emergency Plan, the USG has been an important part of Mozambique's fight, and Guebuza recognizes how important the issue is to us. In separate recent meetings with us, Guebuza and the Presidency Secretary-General have made a point of discussing Guebuza's leadership on HIV/AIDS, and the head of the National AIDS Council urged us to attend the events and followed up with us afterwards to exchange impressions. The Ambassador, the USAID Mission Director, and other USG employees attended each of the events, showing our commitment to encourage Guebuza's dedicated, dynamic leadership. La Lime