Nationwide HIV/AIDS impact survey underway

The Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) together with its local and international partners will be conducting the Namibia Population based HIV Impact Assessment (NAMPHIA) survey for 2017.

The first phase of NAMPHIA is a Household Listing, which will be conducted from the 30 January in all the regions.

Community Mobilization Advisor for the NAMPHIA Survey, Roger Lyners of the Global Programs for Research and Training, an affiliate of University of California San Francisco said that the survey which is currently being rolled out countrywide is to measure the impact of the HIV pandemic on the Namibian population.

The survey will assess the burden of HIV and the impact of prevention, care and treatment response across all 14 regions. According to Lyners, information obtained through NAMPHIA will help the MoHSS to improve HIV services in Namibia and will capture progress made towards achieving our goal of eliminating new cases of HIV by 2030.

“The survey is only beneficial as an indicator of the impact that the pandemic has on the Namibia nation, but more importantly so, it serves as a tracker of where we stand in our efforts in fighting the disease since Independence,” he added.

Lyners in the statement appealed for assistance from households to solicit the best possible participation during both stages of the survey, in order to ensure the most objective assessment as an outcome.

“MoHSS staff will be visiting homes in selected communities during this period to collect basic information about where households are located and who lives there.” Lyners said, information collected during household listing will help the MoHSS to plan for the second phase of NAMPHIA, which commences in May 2017.