{"id":586953,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/586953/?format=json","text_counter":360,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. (Dr.) Machage","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":179,"legal_name":"Wilfred Gisuka Machage","slug":"wilfred-machage"},"content":"Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move that the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control (Amendment) Bill (Senate Bill No.4 of 2015) be read the Second Time. Although, there is no much time but I think I will do justice to start the discussion on this Bill so that we can have good time in the next allocation. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus otherwise referred to as HIV which is the main cause of the auto-immune deficiency disease syndrome, was first diagnosed in Kenya in 1981. When I was a third year medical student in 1978, in medical school, I remember having seen cases that I could very well have catergorised as cases of this syndrome. However, scientific diagnosis was done in 1981. It has been a scourge, trauma, killer and destroyer of mankind. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the virus does not cause the disease. It just infects the white blood cells in the human body that protects it from infection, especially the T helper cell line of the white cells in the human blood and therefore, rendering the person whose white cells have been destroyed, vulnerable to any kind of infection; even the slightest cold that should take one or two days to clear by itself becomes detrimental, lethal and fatal. However, there are good signs. In Canada, the treatment of patients with this syndrome is so thorough such that studies are beginning to indicate that actually patients with HIV/AIDS now live longer than the normal populations because of the effectiveness of treatment and prevention of certain infections that afflict these individuals. This is because they have made efficient follow-up, diagnosis and treatment of patients with HIV/AIDS. They have made it efficient to diagnose that one has the virus and therefore, one can live longer with early treatment. It is for that concern that I have come up with an amendment of the Bill that governs the management of this syndrome by the Government, hence, the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control (Amendment) Bill (Senate Bill No.4 of 2015). It is a short amendment."}