Story by Providence Maraneli
THE National AIDS Council (NAC) and development partners have upscaled the fight to curb new HIV infections among adolescents, amid revelations that 15 000 new infections were recorded last year in Zimbabwe.
While Zimbabwe is still celebrating achieving the 95-95-95 targets in new HIV infections and people succumbing to AIDS, the 15 000 new infections and over 17 000 AIDS deaths recorded in 2023 might be a stark reminder that the epidemic remains vicious.
As such, NAC and development partners have deployed foot soldiers in rural communities to consolidate gains made in the fight against the epidemic.
“We are in the communities as the network for people living with HIV and we are teaching the young children to use the now available protective methods so that they don’t experience what we experienced,” noted a stakeholder.
Another added, “Ours is to teach especially the adolescent girls and boys on the dangers of indulging. We are targeting boys also ,after we got the message from stakeholders that we need to include them , we are teaching them to play a proactive role in the fight against HIV.”
The Ministry of Health and Child Care has trained and deployed community adolescent treatment supporters across the country to assist their peers in adhering to Antiretroviral therapy.
“We are advocating for community-led health service delivery including the fight against AIDS. In Matabeleland South, we have achieved the agreed target, but we are still battling to a greater extent among children but we are doing a lot although we need to do more,” Dr Nathan Chiboyiwa of the Ministry of Health and Child Care said.
NAC’s provincial coordinator Mr Mgcini Sibanda added,”We continue to scale up prevention and treatment services so that everyone has access to them, in particular adolescent boys and girls, young women, sex workers and other vulnerable groups.”
Government is on a drive to consolidate gains made in the fight against new infections as the country surges towards ending HIV by 2030.
“Based on the test and treat approach, all people that have tested HIV positive have been initiated on antiretroviral therapy and achieved viral load suppression. We however have to remain vigilant to ensure cases of defaulting and drug resistance are minimised, while also attending to associated non-communicable diseases,” Provincial Deputy Director of Administration Ndodana Dlamini said.
This year’s commemorations are running under the theme: “Take the Right Path – My Health, My Rights, Our Responsibility”.
