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
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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."


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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