Care-Zambia has launched an Anti Retroviral Therapy pilot project aimed at providing food and cash to people living with HIV and AIDS in Katete district in eastern province.

District Commissioner Elemani Mwanza said Care-Zambia and other cooperating partners want to improve nutrition ART clients in an effort to improve adherence to drugs..

He was speaking at the Launch of Katete ART Pilot Project held at Mphangwe Motel in Katete today.

The DC said the project has been designed to improve the nutritional status of ART clients and their families with the intention of increasing adherence and the effectiveness of the Anti Retroviral treatment.

Mr Mwanza stated that the project will cover the whole district but will specifically benefit 600 ART clients and families who would be receiving nutritional support on a monthly basis in form of food or cash.

“On the targeted 600 beneficiaries, 300 will be on food while the other 300 will be receiving cash which the clients can spend according to their requirements,” he added.

He has since urged Katete residents to go for Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) so that those found positive can not only access Anti Retroviral drugs (ARVs) but also the nutritional support to be provided under the ART pilot project.

He said VCT still remains the entry point for diagnosis management and treatment of HIV infection through provision of ART services to those that are infected hence the need to go for VCT.

Mr Mwanza expressed happiness that the project would greatly assist to increase the uptake of VCT services in the district as the project offers an additional incentive for people to get tested.

He has however appealed to the organizations and individuals who will be directly involved in the implementation of the project to work extra hard to ensure the success of the pilot project.

Mr Mwanza named the organization as Care Zambia, Ministry of Health, National Food and Nutrition Commission, University of Zambia of Free State, Mobile Transactions Zambia Limited and Saint Francis Hospital.

The DC said government remains committed to work with dedicated stakeholders who are working towards improving people’s lives regardless of their status in society.

And speaking at the same occasion, Cara Zambia Regional Director Petros Banda noted that the Launch of the project by his organization and its partners is aimed at complementing governments National AIDS Council Strategy.

Mr Banda stated that the project is in line with the Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP) 2006 to 2010.

He noted the Research pilot project was initially started in 2008 but could not take off due to inadequate funds adding that Care did not relent but went ahead and mobilized more funds and brought on board extra partners to redesign.

Mr Banda said his organization was also implementing the Integrated Tuberculosis and AIDS Program (ITAP) in the district with the financial assistance from the American government.

He said the program is contributing to government’s efforts in combating the spread of TB and HIV and AIDS in the district.

Care Zambia and DFID have also partnered with government to implement other poverty intervention projects in Katete such as Social Cash Transfer (SCT) programme which is helping the poorest and the aged.

“There program started with 4711 people on the programme when it was initiated in 2007.” He said.

Investigations into the operation of the defunct Zambian Airways have partially been completed in Zimbabwe and Tanzania. Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Richard Taima announced in Parliament.

He also said authority has been granted for security personnel to travel to South Africa for further investigations now that the FIFA World Cup is over.

Mr Taima said investigations have delayed to be conducted in South Africa because most of the officers who were expected to assist were involved in World Cup special duties.

He said investigations are expected to be completed as soon as possible.

“The delay to conclude investigations has been due to challenges in accessing information in foreign countries where the airline used to operate,” he said.

Mr Taima said the responses to applications for mutual legal assistance from the Zambian Attorney General to the attorneys general of other countries took time but that they have been positive.

He said a total of K139,328,800 has been spent on investigations as at March 31, 2010.

Mr Taima was responding to a question from Kanchibiya MP Davies Mwango (PF) who wanted to know when investigations into operations of the defunct airline by security agencies will be completed, what the delay in the completion has been and how much money has been spent on investigations.

Three government investigative wings are investigating alleged financial irregularities at the defunct Zambian Airways to establish if there are some criminal elements in the matter.

The Zambia Police Service wrote to foreign governments requesting for clearance to enable it investigate certain institutions in connection with operations of Zambian Airways.

Zambia plans to boost its exports to the Democratic Republic of Congo to more than $2 billion this year from $1.2 billion in 2009, taking advantage of the flexible trade terms, Trade Minister Felix Mutati said on Thursday.

Mutati said exports to the DRC, Zambia’s largest trading partner in the African trading bloc COMESA, had continued to increase because there were no restrictions on goods it could export to its neighbour.

“The advantage of the DR Congo is that the range of exports is from agricultural products through to processed items, machinery and literally anything we can produce in Zambia,” Mutati said at a media briefing.

“All those complicated things which make it difficult to trade, particularly with Europe, do not apply with our neighbours and you could literally take live chickens across borders and they will buy,” Mutati said.

Mutati said Zambia had started building a one-stop border at Kasumbalesa on the border with DRC to facilitate trade and speed up clearance procedures.

“We expect the buildings and related infrastructure to be completed by the end of this year because our colleagues in the DRC have already completed their structures,” he said.

A report by the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa in November showed service costs were high in sub-Saharan Africa due to poor roads, water and power networks and the region needed to double its infrastructure spending to $93 billion a year to effect improvements.