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Country Profiles

Walvis Bay

Walvis Bay Multipurpose Center expands services

WALVIS BAY, Namibia - On October 31, 2003, Namibian Deputy Minister of Health and Social Services Richard Kamwi inaugurated several expansions to the Walvis Bay Multipurpose Center (WB MPC), a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded program.
wbmpc logo

As part of the ceremony, minister Kamwi unveiled the New Start Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) Center. The New Start center, which informally opened in September, has already served more than 100 clients by providing HIV/AIDS counseling and testing services. This much-needed addition to the center was made possible through a partnership between Population Services International and the Social Marketing Association, with funding provided by the European Commission.

Richard Kamwi

Minister Kamwi also unveiled the new Catholic AIDS Action (CAA) building. With this new building, CAA expanded its aid to orphans and vulnerable children in the region by providing a soup kitchen and home-based care at this new location. Currently, the CAA office in Erongo has more than 200 volunteers, 170 clients who receive home-based care, and more than 1000 orphans who are visited and cared for by the organization.

Additional upgrades and improvements to the MPC building itself were also unveiled, and were made possible with funding from the U.S. Department of Defense through the U.S. Embassy in Windhoek.

image of WPC dignitaries

The Walvis Bay Multipurpose Centre (WB MPC) first opened in May 2001. It was built in response to combat the high HIV prevalence rate in the region and to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS through a vigorous prevention, care, and support campaign. The local government of Walvis Bay donated the land for the center, and three U.S. agencies - the U.S. Department of Defense (through the American Embassy), USAID, and the Peace Corps - formed a collaborative partnership to provide the urgently needed services through this center.

Since it first opened, the WB MPC has provided support to more than 20,000 clients. Services provided by the center and its volunteers include:

  • computer training for youth
  • school holiday programs
  • soup kitchen for OVC
  • support groups for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA)
  • home-based care and counseling
  • marketing of condoms
  • drama and cultural group activities
  • HIV/AIDS education and training
  • environmental projects (supported by Local Agenda 21: Green Corner and Gardening Project)

Photo 1: Namibian Deputy Minister of Health and Social Services Richard Kamwi gives the keynote address. (FHI)

Photo 2: Beverley Figaji, MPC Director (left), U.S. Ambassador to Namibia H.E. Kevin McGuire (back, left), Deputy Mayor of Walvis Bay Adelaide Kandjala (back, right), and the European Commission's Juta Pomoell. (FHI)

Learn more about Walvis Bay at the Namibia Publications Web page.