The Chief Albert Luthuli Municipality (CALM) recently organized a Local AIDS Council (LAC) event at KwaMphuzi Sport Ground in Manzana, aimed at enhancing the healthy lifestyle of municipal residents through information sharing from various stakeholders.
According to the CALM spokesperson Thapelo Phetla, the event saw participation from organizations such as Seed of Hope, Badplass Shelter, the Department of Social Development (DSD), the Department of Health, Mothers to Mothers and the community members.
“The LAC programme, which moves across the municipality, seeks to educate the community on various health issues. Stakeholders were given the opportunity to present their services to the community, with topics ranging from Gender-Based Violence and Sexual Offences to HIV/AIDS. There was a strong emphasis on the importance of self-care and seeking help when needed,” he said.
Phetla added that community members were invited to voice their needs and concerns to the municipality, fostering transparency and encouraging residents to speak out about community issues.
“This initiative aims to create a more inclusive and responsive municipality, where residents feel empowered to address their needs. As a municipality we are committed to promote healthy lifestyles and engaging with the community to address their needs effectively,” he said.
Meanwhile, some members of the community requested that the municipality pay attention to the needs of the community when it comes to service delivery and make sure that they attended to them. They asked about the patching of potholes, water supply, job creations, and business opportunities within the municipality.
On department of health they requested that clinics needs to improve their relationship with the community members and they must have enough staff to attend the patient and the staff needs to treat the patients with respect and make sure that there are not long queues and they have enough medications
On behalf of the Department of Health, they requested that clinics improve their relationships with community members; they demanded that they have enough staff to attend to patients, treat patients with respect, make sure that there are not long queues, and have enough medications.
Crime in the area and Gender Based Violence was also on top of the list from the community members.
