Luanda – First Lady Ana Dias Lourenço Friday in Luanda reiterated her commitment to doing all in her power to ensure that Angolan children are born free from HIV.
Ana Dias Lourenço said so during the signing of the terms of cooperation between her office and the country’s mobile telephone company Unitel S.A, within the framework of the Free to Shine campaign.
The partnership deal with Unitel S.A seeks to implement the "Mobile Healthcare Project: Free to Shine ", within the framework of the axes 3 and 4 of the 2019-2021 Operational Plan for Prevention of Transmission of HIV from Mother to Child, in the provinces of Luanda, Cunene and Moxico.
The specific goal is to reduce to 46 percent the rate of new HIV infections among children until the year 2021.
The Project is an extension of the Mobile Healthcare Programme designed to cover 9,000 women living with HIV/AIDS and their children.
In terms of the deal, Unitel S.A will provide a financial and technological assistance, through the implementation of the Interactive Voice Response (IVR), seeking the registration of women living with HIV/AIDS in health units involved in the Free to Shine campaign.
Under the agreement, the mobile telephone company has undertaken to send automatic voice messages to women living with HIV/AIDS who join the programme for consultation, treatment and counselling in Portuguese and vernacular kwanhama and chokwe languages.
Unitel S.A has also committed to helping with supervising, evaluating and continuous training of health personnel on registration of women living with HIV/AIDS for a 12 months period.
Unitel S.A, along with People In Need, has been involved in the “Mobile Healthcare” programme since 2017, seeking to reduce infant mortality and the number of deliveries out of maternity hospitals and medical centres.
Another goal sought by the project is to influence the attitude of mothers towards children vaccination schedules and encourage exclusive breastfeeding, healthy feeding and mother and child hygiene.
The "Free to Shine” campaign was launched in the country in 2018 by the First Lay of Angola and seeks to eliminate the transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child.
It is part of a continental programme implemented by the Organisation of African First Ladies, established in 2002, during the 29th African Union General Assembly.
