President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his two Vice presidents together with Mozambique President Nyusi during the official Opening ceremony.
By Dickson Bandera
HARARE- The International Conference for AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA) 2023 kicked off yesterday at the Harare International Conference Centre in the capital with thousands of delegates from across the globe filling conference centres as early as 10 O’clock in the morning.
The hybrid conference made up of both virtual and in-person will run from the 4th to the 9th of December 2023.
Around 8 000 delegates are attending, with discussions centred around HIV, TB, malaria, Gender Based Violence, leadership among other related subjects.
Zimbabwe is hosting ICASA for the second time, having hosted the conference in 2015 after Tunisia who was scheduled to host the event pulled out at the last minute because of political turmoil that rocked the North African country then.
Seven years later, the conference returns to Zimbabwe and judging from the numbers at the HICC on the first day, this time Zimbabwe might have organised a five star summit experience.
Accomodation, food, registration exercises and exhibitions seem to have been planned well in advance and the first day saw the organisers just tying the loose ends to make sure the conference progresses smoothly.
A precursor to the main event was held in Victoria Falls where the First Lady met the delagates. The visitors got a chance to interact with the majestic Victoria Falls. Hosting the conference comes at a time when Zimbabwe has up-scaled efforts to increase arrivals of international and local visitors to destination Zimbabwe under the National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy launched by the president, Cde E. D Mnangagwa in August 2020 in Victoria Falls.
The first day ran straight into business with presentations in different venues being fully subscribed. Exhibitors too, drawn from across the globe-mainly those in the Non governmental organizations, health sector and related services are in attendance.
In the afternoon, a colourful official opening ceremony was held in the main auditorium with President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Mozambique President Nyusi, together with two Zimbabwe Vice Presidents, and cabinet ministers attending.
Deputy Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry Hon Tongai Mnangagwa, whose Portifolio is an integral player in the conference was also in attendance. The ministry of Tourism and Hospitality has given the logistical and technical support to the conference and the situation so far is pointing to a five star conference experience. Conferences are among the target forms of tourism being pursued by the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, under the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibition (MICE) tourism.
President Mnangagwa and his delegation stayed in the auditorium for more than an hour listening to the presentations before he gave his speech and opening the conference.
In his address, president Mnangagwa called the African continent to leverage on Africa’s rich natural resources to manufacture it’s medicines to control diseases in Africa and the world at large.
“As a Continent, we must harness our rich and diverse flora and fauna endowment through the deployment of science, technology and innovation, to establish a vibrant African Traditional Medicines’ pharmaceutical industry.
“We must, as Africa, never shy away from building-on our rich African knowledge systems and God given resources to have scientifically viable medical products and solutions for our communities. Through such an approach, we should reverse the high disease burden and related mortality on our continent,” he said.
The ICASA comes just a week after Zimbabwe hosted the Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week which was described by many as one of the best so far.
Remarkable successes have also been recorded by the country’s Health and Child Care Ministry and its partner organisations that include the National AIDS Council (NAC) and the Zimbabwe National Network of People Living with HIV with regards to response to HIV/AIDS and STIs prevention and impact mitigation programmes, hence earning Zimbabwe a place among model countries.
The SAA and ICASA 2023 President, Dr David Parirenyatwa, the ICASA Director, Mr Luc Armand Bodea, SAA Treasurer, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, National AIDS Council Board member, Dr Matthew Mare, Dr Owen Mugurungi who is a Director in the AIDS, TB Unit in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, among other high profile delegates are on ground to ensure that the conference runs perfectly well.
