The Sunday News
Tinomuda Chakanyuka, Senior Reporter
THE National Aids Council (Nac) has said its “Stop the Bus Campaign” was yielding positive results with the number of people who know their status and are on antiretroviral treatment estimated to have gone up significantly over the past two years.
Nac embarked on the campaign two years ago and the council says it has observed a gradual decline in the HIV positivity rate among people who test during the campaign. The Stop the Bus Campaign, part of Nac’s decentralisation of interventions, targets hard to reach populations through hosting public entertainment shows where HIV services will be provided.
In an interview, Nac monitoring and evaluation director Mr Amon Mpofu said the decline in the positivity rate was a sign that more people knew their status.
“What we have discovered is that a lot of people are testing negative during the campaigns. When we started positivity was around eight percent but now we are talking of four percent,” he said.
Added Mr Mpofu: “What this means is that a lot of people have been tested, they know their status and are on treatment. It’s a positive development.
“What is worrying however, are repeat tests. A lot of people who have tested before are coming back to test and this is a sign that they would have exposed themselves.
“What we want is when someone tests negative, they should protect that status.”
Mr Mpofu said the Stop the Bus Campaign concept was being implemented in specific selected areas where the setting was suitable. He said other areas were implementing different programmes, as part of Nac’s decentralisation of intervention to achieve optimum results.
“The campaign is a way of reaching people in the streets, those that don’t normally access our services. Most people in the informal sector don’t have time to visit our various centres, so such an approach would be ideal for them.
“What we are doing is providing entertainment in the streets to get people’s attention. When people gather we then offer them services such as HIV testing and counselling, BP and diabetes tests,” he said.
“In rural areas, they are organising sports galas and musical shows. The idea is to reach as many people as possible and I can safely say so far we have done well.”
Mr Mpofu said the campaign among other intervention programme will spur the country’s drive towards meeting the 90-90-90 targets Aids epidemic as a public health threat by 2020.
According to the 2017 Global Aids update report released last week, Zimbabwe is among the leading countries in the Eastern and Southern African region in meeting the target.
The 90-90-90 targets call on countries to ensure that by 2020 at least 90 percent of all people living with HIV know their HIV status, 90 percent of all people who are living with HIV and know their status are put on treatment and 90 percent of people on treatment are virally suppressed.
@irielyan
