The Sunday News
Tinomuda Chakanyuka, Senior Reporter
THE National Aids Council (NAC) has embraced the Start Free, Stay Free, Aids Free framework which it says will work complementary to the 90-90-90 in the fight against HIV.
The 90-90-90 strategy is a concept introduced by the United Nation’s programme on HIV/Aids in 2013.
Under the strategy, by the year 2020, 90 percent of people living with HIV should know their status, 90 percent of people who are diagnosed should be on antiretroviral treatment and 90 percent of those who receive antiretroviral will be virally suppressed.
NAC communications officer Mrs Tadiwa Nyatanga-Pfupa told Sunday News that NAC will use the two frameworks, among other strategies as compasses in its HIV response programmes.
Mrs Nyatanga-Pfupa said the council was prepared to work with other stakeholders to meet all set targets.
The Start Free, Stay Free, Aids Free framework is a super fast-track framework for ending Aids among children, adolescents and young women by 2020.
This comes on the back of an alarming rate of HIV infections among adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 years.
Mrs Nyatanga-Pfupa said NAC will support the Start Free, Stay Free, Aids Free framework as the framework well fits council’s mandate to fight HIV/Aids.
Zimbabwe was the first country to launch this framework in November last year following the global launch in June the same year at the 2016 High Level Meeting in New York.
“The National Aids Council (NAC) will move with momentum in support of the Start Free, Stay Free, Aids Free framework that was launched by the Minister of Health and Child Care Dr David Parirenyatwa.
“NAC already has in place a department that deals with gender issues and another that deals with youths. We will use these and other structures within NAC to implement activities that resonate with this Start Free, Stay Free, Aids Free framework,” she said.
Mrs Nyatanga-Pfupa said NAC was working hard towards an Aids free Zimbabwe by 2030 in accordance with the UNAids Targets.
She said the goal was attainable if children who have an HIV-free start are supported to remain negative, which is the thrust of the Start Free, Stay Free, Aids Free framework.
Mrs Nyatanga-Pfupa called for a multi-sectoral, integrated approach to ensure that adolescents and young people remain free of HIV.
“It looks quite an ambitious target but it remains attainable if we get our priorities right. If children that are born HIV negative remain negative, we can achieve the targets by the set deadline.
“What we need is a multi-sectoral approach. NAC alone will not win the war but with support from stakeholders in HIV response we will record milestones,” she said.
Officially launching the Start Free, Stay Free, Aids Free framework, Dr Parirenyatwa highlighted that progress had been made in eliminating mother to child transmission of HIV since the beginning of the prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) programme in Zimbabwe.
He said the possibility of “starting free” in Zimbabwe was high, on the back of successes that have been recorded so far.
“To date, there are 1 560 sites providing services for PMTCT, 84 percent of pregnant women in need of PMTCT received ARVS while the mother to child transmission of HIV has declined from a peak of 30 percent in 2009 to 7percent in 2015,” he said.
The Start Free, Stay Free, Aids Free framework brings together a coalition of partners to build on the progress achieved under the Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive (Global Plan).
Led by the Joint United Nations Programme on Aids (UNAIDS) and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR), the framework provides a roadmap for the urgent work ahead, elevating and amplifying key initiatives that are already accelerating progress for children, adolescents and young women.
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