UNDP Hosts HIV Policy and Law Reform Dialogue to Address Key Populations Needs.

Lilongwe, November 19, Mana: UNDP’s HIV policy dialogue in Lilongwe emphasized the importance of law reforms to protect key populations at high risk, fostering collaboration among stakeholders to sustain Malawi’s HIV progress.

The dialogue attracted and brought together many organizations including, UNDP, CPO, UNRC, USAID, POM, and NAC to discuss issues concerning HIV and AIDS targeting key populations such as the prostitutes on law reforms for the good and benefit of all Malawians leaving no one behind.

Speaking in an interview on Monday evening, the Director of the HIV and Health Group of United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Mandeep Dhaliwal highlighted the importance of organizing the dialogue as Malawi is making progress on HIV and AIDS to the key populations.

“It is essential to organize this event because Malawi has made such good progress on HIV, but also to make further progress Malawians need to watch more on the safety and security of key populations and improve the human rights environment in line with the constitution and the law and also make improvements in the law so that they can sustain the gains of HIV response,” she said.

Speaking on another interview, CEO of the National AIDS Commission (NAC), Beatrice Lydia Matanje underscored how candid the discussion was as it focused more on what was going on in the country, triggering future discussions because of the recommendations that were made.

“This dialogue is critical because within the general population, the risk is very little but in the key population groups it is over double or 7 times for example female sex workers have 7.7%, men who have sex with men it is about 0.4%, and people who inject drug it is about almost double, hence this shows that the key populations are still harboring the pandemic and if we ignore structural barriers that hinder them not to be identified and to access services then we are going to continue with this pandemic hence addressing the issue as these people do not live in isolation,” she said

On the other hand, the National Coordinator of the Diversity forum Dunker Kamba stressed that their organization as an umbrella body works with the Key populations hence citing the need to be involved in the dialogue.

“The dialogue is important because this is where we get to meet the key stakeholders, and the issues we relay with key populations which is at high risk of HIV therefore this space gave us time to connect but also to tell the responsible people on how our issues will affect us on day to day life, and helped us to share whatever challenges we encounter so that they are resolved,” he said.

The HIV Policy and Law Reform Dialogue held in Lilongwe marks a critical step forward in addressing the unique challenges faced by key populations at higher risk of HIV infection. Stakeholders, including UNDP, NAC, USAID, and the Diversity Forum, underscored the need for continued collaboration and reform to ensure that no one is left behind in Malawi's fight against HIV and AIDS.