Castel Malawi has contributed K2.5 million towards this year’s World AIDS Day which was commemorated on December 1.
Speaking during the handover ceremony of the cheque to National AIDS Commission (NAC) at Mpemba Veterinary ground in Blantyre on Thursday, Castel Malawi Human Resources and Corporate Affairs Director, Gloria Zimba said they joined the cause to support Government and other stakeholders in the fight against HIV and AIDS, because as a company they believe they have employees who could be affected or infected.
“We believe we are part and parcel of this country as well as the NGOs that are running several functions in the country. One of the functions is the fight against HIV and AIDS. At Castel we have 625 direct employees and about 5,000 indirect employees. When we are look at the value chain, we have got over 11,000 that are affected by us in our value chain, so we believe we should also take part in this fight against HIV and AIDS because we know if it is not our direct employees, it could be those people in our value chain who could be affected in one way or another,” said Zimba.
NAC Commissioner McLan Kankhomba commended Castel Malawi for the gesture saying the money will be used in various ways including capacity building of its stakeholders including organizations that work in communities.
“We are going to use this donation to further the aims and the mandate of the Commission. As you are aware NAC is established under the HIV and AIDS Management and Prevention Act 2018. Its functions are to coordinate, lead and intervene in coordinating HIV and AIDS activities in the country. We are also there to encourage people not to discriminate against people living with HIV and AIDS in the communities. So, this money will be used for civic education, awareness, and dissemination of HIV and AIDS information in the country,” said Kankhomba.
This year’s AIDS Day was commemorated under the theme: Equitable Access to Quality HIV and AIDS Services for All.
