Minister of Health Dr Chitalu Chilufya has announced that the National HIV/AIDS/STI/TB Council (NAC) will soon be streamlined at both board and technical levels for improved coordination of civil society and other players and to increase its resource mobilization capacity.
Dr Chilufya disclosed this in Lusaka on Tuesday the 14th of August 2018 during the commemoration of the second National HIV Testing, Counselling and Treatment (HTCT) Day under theme; ‘My Family, My Nation, My Responsibility.’
He told stakeholders that the process of transforming NAC had reached advanced stages whose final outcome would be communicated at the completion of the process.
Cabinet approved a proposal in 2017 to repeal and replace the current National HIV/AIDS/STI/TB Council No. 10 of 2002 on a rationale of making NAC learner and more responsive to the challenges of the current outlook of the HIV epidemic.
The existing NAC Act which establishes the organisation, spells out the functions of NAC in section 4 (1) as being responsible for coordinating and supporting the development, monitoring and evaluation of the multi-sectoral national response for the prevention and combating of the spread of HIV, AIDS, STI and TB in order to reduce the personal, social and economic impacts of HIV, AIDS, STI and TB.
In sub section 2, NAC is further mandated to support the development and coordination of policies, plans and strategies for the prevention and combating of HIV, AIDS, STI and TB for health and other institutions concerned with the prevention and combating of HIV, AIDS, STIs and TB as well as ensuring the provision and dissemination of information and education on HIV, AIDS, STI and TB.
Other functions of NAC under the current statute are resource mobilisation to promote and support identified priority interventions including research in areas related to HIV, AIDS, STI and TB.
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