MTN gives away 30 cellphones

MTN Swaziland yesterday pledged cellphones to its first 30 staff members to take an HIV test.
This was during the MTN HIV testing and counselling awareness campaign, which was in line with the April theme that encourages HIV testing and counselling held at the Prince of Wales ground in Mbabane.
MTN CEO Tebogo Mogapi said as a company that values their employees and the contribution they made towards its success, they felt it was important to have a day where employees were given access to HIV testing and couselling.
He said the low numbers of people who know their status was a cause for concern as Swaziland had one of the highest HIV and AIDS prevalence in the world.
“People fail to test for HIV for many reasons, including lack of access to testing services, fear of stigma and discrimination, fear of testing positive and lack of access to treatment and others,” said Mogapi.
He said these facts meant thousands of opportunities for increased access to treatment, care, support and prevention  were being missed. The CEO said they believed as a company and citizens of the country they could play an important role and encourage people to know their status and live a positive life having changed behaviour.
“We have a role to motivate people to know their status because a majority of people do get tested but fail to collect their results. Knowing your status helps you in decision making regardless of whether negative or positive,” he said.
He encouraged the MTNers to take a positive step towards the fight against HIV and AIDS through ensuring that they know their status. Mogapi said since the inception of the Y’ello Wellness programme within the company they have felt the positive input of the programme particularly in addressing the social issues prone to affect their Human Resource.
He also highlighted the support secured from their psychologist whom he identified as Dr. Debbie and also thanked the wellness programme peer educators for their effort in addressing wellness issues among staff.
He applauded other organisations such as SwaziBank, Standard Bank, Swaziland Post and Telecommunications Corporation (SPTC) for ensuring that HIV issues are addressed among their staff and encouraged others to join in and create a healthy environment for employees.

... MTN keeping
the promise

THE Deputy Director of Public Health Services Rejoice Nkambule says MTN Swaziland continues to be part of the national response to HIV and AIDS.
She said it was encouraging to see that MTN has not looked back since the launch of their wellness programme in 2007.
Nkambule applauded MTN for living up to the theme of the World AIDS campaign, ‘Stop AIDS, Keep the promise.’
She said they had kept the promise to the employees who were either affected or infected with HIV.
Nkambule said this was an entry point to a wide range of HIV prevention, treatment, and care and support services.
She said for one to be able to access the specific and personalised HIV and AIDS services, one would need to know his or her HIV status.
“This empowers one to take a decision on the post test services that one needs, hence there is no one size fits all,” she said.
She acknowledged the participation and contribution by MTN to the provision of health care services under the special programmes of 21 days of Y’ello care and other initiatives focusing on clinical care services.
She encouraged other companies to promote HIV testing and Counselling among their employees so they can know their status.
The event was also attended by representatives from SwaziBank, Standard Bank, Swaziland Post and Telecommunication Corporation while HTC officers from PSI conducted the testing and counseling services to the MTN staff and others.