The ManicaPost
Catherine Murombedzi : Post Correspondent
THE Zimbabwe National Network of People Living HIV (ZNNP+) held a two-day-workshop sensitisation workshop for journalists in Macheke last week.Mr Dagobert Mureriwa, ZNNP+ director called for interrogation of the policies that are available and urged the inclusion of key population.
He pointed out that National Aids Council had given out an interesting aspect that could not be ignored. He said four percent of new HIV infections were from men being intimate with other men.
He evaluated the 90-90-90 where 90 percent of the population has to know their HIV status. Of those testing HIV positive, 90 percent get to be commenced on treatment and 90 percent of those on anti-retroviral therapy have a suppressed viral load.
A suppressed viral load means treatment is working well and is the golden standard measure.
“When we look at the 90 concept and want to know where the 10 percent is lost, we could see that the four percent of new HIV infections in MSM could be there. We need not to leave anyone behind if we are to achieve the ending of Aids by 2030,” said Mr Mureriwa.
Mr Mureriwa said journalists were an integral part in the drive to achieving an end to Aids.
“Journalists you have a role to inform and drive some of the advocacy issues and we are seeing an improvement in the content quality. However, we need not to relax, so keep the momentum up,” said Mr Mureriwa.
He added: “Moving to test and treat, we still have ground to cover as counselling is important. Looking at the concept, we may have a challenge because counselling will not be readily available to someone who has tested HIV positive using a self testing kit.
“After taking an HIV self-test one still has to go to a clinic for confirmation through re-testing and counselling sessions.”
