By FLAVIOR CHISHALA and EMMANUEL ZIMBA –

THE National AIDS Council (NAC) says it is worried with the ever dwindling external donor support that Zambia is receiving to fight HIV/AIDS.
NAC communications manager Justine Mwiinga said the organisation could not effectively coordinate its activities because the donors were moving to other areas of interest than HIV/AIDS, a situation that had left the organisation with little financial resources to work with.
Mr Mwiinga said this during a workshop held yesterday which targeted members of the parliamentary committees on health, community development and social services, estimates, all chairpersons of seasonal committees as well as members of the coalition of African parliamentarians against HIV/AIDS.
The objective of the workshop was to sensitise Zambian parliamentarians on the African state parties’ commitment to the health sector funding through local budget allocations, and to stimulate parliamentarians so that they could develop strategies to raise funding for HIV/AIDS sustainable financing in Zambia.
Mr Mwiinga said the development of these local strategies would fit into the overall SADC member states national parliament’s implementation strategies that were being implemented at regional, continental and international levels.
“This is a Zambian problem and not a concern of outsiders, I therefore implore you SADC members of Parliament to make legislation support that can help move the epidemic programme forward, I must confirm that lack of local financing for HIV/AIDS response has been a drawback on us as NAC in combating the disease,” he said.
Speaker of the National Assembly, Patrick Matibini said the objective of the workshop was in line with the SADC HIV/AIDS strategic funding, whose vision was to control and reverse the HIV/AIDS epidemic and its consequential impact and ensure that member States reduce their levels of re-infections by 50 per cent and also mitigate its impact by the year 2015.
Dr Matibini also said that the over reliance on donors was not a sustainable way of fighting HIV/AIDS as most donors had decreased in the country.
“As parliamentarians, you are required to remind Government of its commitment to the funding  of the health sector in general under HIV/AIDS in the country in order to enhance the technical capacity of the relevant portfolio committee and mobilise leadership as well as scale up regional and national sustainable local funding,” he said.