"Know Your Status" Campaign

According to the HIV Testing and Counselling Policy for the Kingdom of Lesotho, “Lesotho is the third country in the world with the highest burden of HIV and AIDS and has an estimated adult prevalence of 23 percent among the 15-49 age groups (UNAIDS/NAC/MoHSW 2005). With about 70 HIV and AIDS related deaths daily, the country is facing a national disaster”. The government of Lesotho upon realising that this disaster was not only a health problem, but also a developmental one that has social, economic and cultural dimensions, took steps to address the disaster. One of the major initiatives put in place by the government is the Know Your Status (KYS) campaign, which was started as a vehicle to have all the people in Lesotho above 12 years of age to know their HIV status by end of 2007.1 People were encouraged to know their HIV status so that, those who tested HIV negative would be assisted to stay negative and those who tested positive would be offered support to cope with living with the virus. Ultimately, the negative impact of HIV and AIDS on social, economic and cultural wellbeing of Basotho would be reversed. The campaign was launched in 2004 by the Right Honourable the Prime Minister and it encompassed both HIV counselling and testing.

The Office of the Auditor General undertook a Performance Audit to review the operations of the KYS campaign, establish whether the objectives of the campaign were fully achieved, if not what problems were encountered.

For the full report please download the attachment below.