mbulelo smpofu
Robin Muchetu recently in Rusape
WORLD Aids Day (WAD) is commemorated on 1 December each year. It is a day specifically set aside to raise awareness, commemorate those who have passed on from Aids-related illnesses and call for action in the national response to HIV.
The day is also meant to celebrate successes, which have been achieved in accessing HIV prevention and management services. It was first commemorated as World Aids Day in 1988 when the World Health Organisation (WHO) designated it so and the day has since moved from being celebrated on a single day to a campaign, which runs throughout the year.
World Aids Day Campaigns and commemorations in Zimbabwe are held under the leadership and co-ordination of the National Aids Council (NAC) in a multi-sectoral framework that brings together Government, UN agencies, civil society, business, religious sector and Aids service organisations.
The commemorations were held recently at John Cowie Primary School in Rusape, Manicaland Province. Members of the media were on a weeklong tour of the host province, visiting the seven districts of Manicaland to have an appreciation of the HIV situation in the province.
Various NAC District Aids Co-ordinators gave insights into how their areas are affected, the challenges, opportunities and some of their successes in their endeavours.
Ms Doreen Jambaya the District Aids Co-ordinator (NAC) for Chipinge District said their main role, together with the rest of the districts is to co-ordinate the multi-sectoral response to HIV and Aids.
Various Ministries are involved in this response in the province and country such as the Ministries of Women Affairs, Small and Medium Enterprise Development, Local Government and Public Works, Health and Child Care, Primary and Secondary Education, Youth and various development partners.
“We have 52 health facilities and four satellite clinics. Our prevalence rate in the district is 7,9 percent and the incidence rate is 0,12 percent and we have 19 725 people with HIV in this district. We have hotspot areas in terms of new HIV cases and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and these are Checheche, Chipinge Town, Gaza, Junction Gate, Paidamoyo and Chibuwe. The challenge is coming from some densely populated areas, sex workers, informal traders and the key drivers are transactional sex as well as drug and substance abuse,” said Ms Jambaya.
She said there is also high mobility in the district due to cross-border movement, inter-generational relationships, early child marriages, commercial farming estates together with low condom use.
Other districts in the province such as Mutasa, Chipinge, Chimamimani, Buhera and Nyanga, share similar challenges regarding key HIV drivers.
In Manicaland Province, Chipinge has the lowest HIV prevalence rate while Mutasa District is one of the three districts in the province with an HIV prevalence rate below the provincial prevalence of 9,75 percent. Its prevalence rate is sitting at 8,5 percent.
The various districts adopted and adapted HIV prevention models that seek to address HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women such as the Sista2Sista Programme, Youth Out of School Peer Educators programme, male engagement programme, addressing sexually transmitted infection among sex workers and their clients and a Key Populations Sex work programme.
DAC for Mutare District, Ms Jean Mukoyi said the district has 55 wards (36 rural and 19 urban) and it has an estimated population of 531 562 (ZimStat, 2022) with an HIV prevalence rate of 8,18 percent and an HIV incidence of 0,12 percent against the provincial rate of 0.14 percent.
She, however, said young people are the most affected.
“Young people, especially adolescent girls and young women aged 12 to 24 years, are the most affected population. Mutare is also a hub of diamond and gold mining activities, a border area between Zimbabwe and Mozambique and a corridor connecting Mozambique and South Africa. Such economic predispositions are associated with high mobility and easily disposable incomes such as female sex work and, consequently, high risk for HIV transmission among young women,” said Ms Mukoyi.
The main drivers of HIV include harmful religious and cultural practices, sexual and gender-based violence, multiple concurrent sexual partners, economic poverty and low levels of HIV prevention knowledge.
Chiadzwa, Odzi, Arda Transal, Nyamajura, Zimunya, Gimboki (Dangamvura), Chitakatira and Sakubva suburb in Mutare have been identified as HIV high burdened areas in Mutare District.
Efforts to curb the spread of HIV infection have been put in place in the districts with the Pepfar/USaid funded Support Maintain Advocate Reduce Risk and Transform (Smart Girls), Dreams (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, Aids-free, Mentored and Safe Women) programme that was launched in 2022. “The Smart Girls initiative aims to reduce new HIV infections among vulnerable adolescent girls and young women through the provision of HIV prevention, gender norms change sessions and social assets building. The initiative also seeks to economically empower AGYW through financial literacy, work readiness, vocational training for market-driven technical skills and internships.
Needs-driven clinical, educational, caregiver economic and parenting services are also layered onto the basic evidence-based age-specific primary package of services,” said Ms Mukoyi.
She said violence prevention interventions such as the NO Means NO are offered to AGYWs to equip them with skills to protect themselves from violence. The programme has also capacitated 90 Guidance and Counselling Teachers on delivering Comprehensive Sexuality Education to AGYW (10-19 years).
Cluster Mentor Supervisors and DREAMS Ambassadors to deliver the Health4 Life Curriculum, mentor AGYW in safe spaces, and refer for clinical services.
Mutasa District NAC Youth Officer Ms Nyasha Nyamapfeni said the HIV prevalence is lowest in the district compared to other rural provinces in the country.
She said Mutasa District has two major hot spot areas of HIV and STIs namely Tsvingwe, St Augustine’s, Penhalonga, Old Mutare, Premier Cluster and Hauna Growth Point Cluster.
“The Tsvingwe, Penhalonga, St Augustine’s, Old Mutare, Premier Cluster is a mining and Mutare peri-urban zone. Sex work and drug abuse are common. Hauna Growth Point is a densely populated area where business activities converge. Sex work was also thriving,” she added.
NAC Provincial Manager, Mr Artwell Shiridzinomwa said on World Aids Day, people around the world unite to show support for people with HIV and to remember those who have died from Aids-related illnesses.
He said the day also aims to raise and strengthen HIV and AIDS awareness.
Mr Shiridzinomwa said it is also a call for action and commitment to HIV and Aids national response.
“It is an opportunity to take stock of progress made in the national response to HIV and Aids and remember the people who have passed on due to HIV and Aids.
“All the World Aids Day campaigns focus on a specific theme, chosen following consultations with UNAids, WHO and a large number of grassroots, national and international agencies involved in the prevention and treatment of HIV and Aids. There is one theme internationally,” he said. This year’s international theme is, “Take the rights path”.
“As a country, we work with the international theme and process through consultations with local communities here in Makoni to suit our local needs and situation hence our national theme is, ‘Take the rights path, my health, my rights our responsibility’. The theme will run from 1 December, 2024 to 30 November, 2025,” he said.
