The Sunday News
Tinomuda Chakanyuka Sunday News Reporter
The number of Zimbabweans on anti-retroviral therapy (ART) has doubled to above half a million over the past four years, with about 60 percent of people receiving HIV treatment being women, while the remaining 40 percent are men. According to statistics from the Ministry of Health and Child Care, as of December last year, 665 199 people were on ART nationwide, a huge leap from 363,261 recorded in 2010.
Harare Metropolitan Province tops the list of provinces with the highest number of ART beneficiaries, recording 150 358 people receiving ARVs, while the Midlands province which is ranked second has 76 511 ART recipients.
The three Matabeleland region provinces, Bulawayo, Mat North and Mat South have a collective total of 151 292 people on ART.
Matabeleland North province ranks lowest with 45 588 people on ART.
There has also been a significant increase in ART sites from five initial sites that were set up in 2004 to more than 1 200 sites countrywide.
The country has also managed to clear the patients’ waiting list for ART, marking a significant improvement in the country’s ART programme.
A national evaluation of the ART programme conducted by the Ministry of Health and Child Care in May, 2013 revealed no waiting lists at all sites visited countrywide.
In an interview with Sunday News last week, Deputy Director HIV/Aids and STI unit in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr Tsitsi Mutasa-Apollo attributed the huge leap to successifull decentralisation of ART services by Government among other interventions.
“The reasons for the increase in treatment numbers include, among them Government’s commitment to fund the ARV medicines through the National AIDS Trust Fund commonly referred to as the AIDS Levy and from other partners.
“Successful decentralisation of ART services from five initial sites in 2004 to over 1 200 sites country-wide, has also seen the number of people on ART increasing.
“Training and clinical mentorship of health workers to deliver comprehensive HIV services has also increased availability of ARV medicines for adults and children,” she said.
Dr Mutasa-Apollo pointed out that the increase in the number of people on ART had also seen a dramatic decrease in the number of people dying of HIV related illnesses.
She, however, bemoaned low ART uptake among children but noted a steady increase in the number of children on treatment from 41 441 in 2012 to 46 319 in 2013 countrywide.
There were 105 000 children below the age of 14 in need of ART last year, up from 9 942 recorded in 2012.
“The increase has contributed to decline in deaths due to HIV. In 2012 alone, the ART programme was able to prevent 52 000 deaths according to modelling work done. For children, there has been a slow but steady increase in the number of children receiving treatment,” she said.
Dr Mutasa-Apollo also anticipated another significant increase in ART uptake this year following the country’s adoption of the latest WHO guidelines that require treatment to commence for people living with HIV when their CD4 count reaches 500.
The country used to initiate treatment at a CD4 count threshold of 350.
Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Paul Chimedza officially launched the national guidelines on 27 November 2013 in Harare.
“Several workshops were convened to disseminate the revised guidelines targeting health workers in the public (provincial and district health executives) and private sectors, representatives from NGOs, civil society organisations and from networks of PLHIV. The adoption of the new guidelines might also translate into an increased uptake of ART,” she said.
According to the Ministry of Health and Child Care Zimbabwe has about 1,3 million people living with HIV a slight increase from 1,1 million recorded in 2012.
According to the recent Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey, only 36 percent of men and 57 percent of women have ever been tested and received an HIV test result. The disparity has been attributed largely to men’s poor health seeking behaviour.
Zimbabwe commenced its ART programme in April 2004, with the National Aids Trust Fund being the principal source of funds with other supporting organisations coming in to assist the country.
However, there has been widespread concern over the country’s over-reliance on the donor world in the fight against HIV, with analysts calling on Government to come up with resource mobilisation programmes that would see the country sustain its own HIV programmes.
