King of Swaziland , Mswati III has vowed to rid Swaziland of
HIV/AIDS by 2022.
Mswati III who is Africa's last monarch told parliament that
he would "personally see to it" that "first world Swaziland
is HIV/AIDS free", Telegraph UK reports.
Aides later explained that the king was tying his latest plan
to an earlier pledge to make Swaziland a First World nation
by 2022.
The king also called for the stigmatism surrounding the
killer diseases to end, and appealed to those who suffered
from them to seek help and treatment.
Swaziland currently has the world's highest prevalence of
HIV/AIDS, with 26.5% of 15 to 49 year-olds suffering,
rising to 40% among 16 to 24 year-olds. It's also ranked
among the poorest countries in the world, with 63% of its
inhabitants living below the poverty line of less than US
$1.25 per day.
In spite of these challenges, the king leads a lavish lifestyle
and has at least 15 wives. To this end, the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) has repeatedly called on the king to
cut expenditure on the royal household and increase social
spending.
Despite the apparent obstacles, the king's 2022 pledge was
reportedly met with applause in parliament. Opposition
groups were however less enthusiastic as the Communist
Party of Swaziland pointing out that with no single African
country classified as "high income" by the World Bank, his
First World promise looked "both ridiculous and cruel".
"Mswati either thinks that none of our people who have
HIV-Aids will be alive after seven years, or that there will
be a universal cure by that date and so everyone will be
fine. His asinine remarks on ending the pandemic in seven
years comically unmask a hard reality that we are still very
far from beating." the CPS said in a statement.
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