The ManicaPost
Catherine Murombedzi —
ZIMBABWEANS from all walks of life came together in Mbizo, Kwekwe on December 1 to commemorate World Aids Day.
The night before, a candle light memorial was held in Mbizo Hall where participants wrote down names of their dear departed ones on a big white cloth that was hung on the wall.
The guest of honour was Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa. The theme for this year’s commemoration was: ‘Closing the tap of new HIV infections’ and provide treatment to the infected.
Kwekwe is a unique district with an HIV prevalence of 20.9 percent, way above the national average of 15 percent and an HIV incidence of 1.2 percent, again way above the national average of 0.88 percent.
VP Mnangagwa was glad on the choice of WAD commemorations and hoped that the programmers will put a spotlight on Kwekwe which has a high rate of new HIV infections.
“I am hopeful that this national attention will assist us here in Kwekwe to close the tap of new HIV infections,” said VP Mnangagwa.
He lamented that the pandemic continued to erode the economic gains made over the years.
“The HIV and Aids pandemic reverses the socio-economic gains we had recorded over the years. More people continue to get infected with HIV, while others die as a result of Aids.
In view of this, the Government of Zimbabwe remains focused and committed to ending Aids by 2030.
Achieving this goal requires adequate investment in policies, systems and programmes that reduce new HIV infections and ensure provision and access to quality treatment services in line with the fast track targets,” he said.
“Our theme this year, closing the tap of new HIV infections is therefore aptly suited to the challenges we face.
Although our HIV prevalence is stabilising around 15 percent on the strength of the treatment and prevention programmes, HIV incidence remains very high at 0.88 percent, translating to 54 753 new cases in 2015.
This calls for all stakeholders and partners in the response to HIV and Aids, including Government to scale up our work in line with the theme and close the tap of new HIV infections.
I am very glad that the Ministry of Health and Child Care recently developed an HIV Prevention Revitalisation Roadmap to guide implementation of high impact HIV prevention interventions, particularly targeting hotspots and key populations.
Zimbabwe has identified sex workers, youths, long distance truck drivers, artisanal miners and prisoners as our key affected populations that need more and better targeting with HIV prevention interventions,” added VP Mnangagwa.
Kwekwe District is a hotspot district with small-scale mining activity and farming. By nature of artisanal mining, they live out in the work areas, making the communities in these areas vulnerable to new HIV infections.
“We therefore have to offer these target groups and the entire population combined and integrated interventions, comprising condoms, HIV testing services, prevention of mother to child transmission, voluntary medical male circumcision as we try to close the new leakages of new HIV infections,” said the VP.
He went on to stress that it is no longer business as usual if we are to end Aids by 2030. If it means working at night to reach the target population then he said that has to be done.
“We have to dump the ‘business as usual’ approach. It means if our target populations are accessible at night, in the farms, mines and highways, let that determine the strategies we will adopt to reach them,” he added.
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