By BRIAN HATYOKA? –

THE United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) has called for the integration of health services delivery to effectively reach out to communities.
UNAIDS country director Tsehaiu Medhin said there was need to ensure that the provision of health services was integrated to enable citizens access various health services each time they visited medical facilities.
Dr Medhin said this in Livingstone at Zambezi Sun Hotel in her presentation during the ongoing regional Sexual Reproductive Health/HIV integration Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) workshop.
The workshop has attracted several countries and representatives from UNAIDS, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), European Mission to Zambia, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and Sweden, among other partners.
‘‘We need to ensure that health services are integrated. A practical example is that of rural women who are usually very busy and they have a lot of things to do.??When they visit a clinic or a hospital, they should be given all health packages besides merely HIV testing and family planning services,’’ Dr Medhin said.
She said it was very important to think of integration at levels starting from policy, strategy and service delivery.
Dr Medhin said about 35 million people were still living with HIV across the globe, hence the need to seek ways of mitigating the disease.
Dr Medhin was optimistic that all Government agencies in Zambia would coordinate and work together to create one strong system in the delivery of health services.
Ministry of Community Development, Mother and Child Health acting Permanent Secretary Simmy Chapula said Zambia firmly believes in promoting the right of every woman as well as man and a child to enjoy a healthy life.
Speaking during the official opening on Wednesday, Mr Chaputa said Zambia also strongly believes in equal opportunities for all in line with international commitments.
He said achieving universal access to reproductive health services, HIV prevention, treatment and care would remain critical for sustainable development beyond 2015.