1,2 million people on antiretroviral therapy

01 May, 2022 - 00:05 0 Views
1,2 million people on antiretroviral therapy Photo Credit: Getty Images

The Sunday News

Sharon Chimenya, Masvingo Correspondent

THE National AIDS Council has stepped up efforts to take innovative HIV prevention interventions to specific populations and locations where more new infections continue to occur.

The new infections, according to NAC, are particularly prevalent among adolescent girls and young women, men who have sex with men, sex workers, mobile workers and others while placing emphasis on respecting their rights including those of people living with HIV. 

Speaking during the Masvingo Province belated World Aids Day commemoration last week, NAC provincial manager Mr Agrippa Zizhou said his organisation has scaled up the HIV prevention methods and transitioning the HIV response into a sustainable phase.

The commemoration ran under the theme “End Pandemic, End inequalities, End Aids. He said NAC was working closely with the Ministry of Health and Child Care, programme implementers and funding partners to optimise interventions and target most at risk and key populations, paying attention to location and rights.

“We have mainstreamed interventions for key populations as a way to end inequalities and promote access to and utilisation of both prevention and treatment services.

We will focus on taking innovative HIV prevention interventions to specific populations and locations where more new infections continue to occur, particularly among adolescent girls and young women; men who have sex with men, sex workers, mobile workers and others while placing emphasis on respecting their rights including those of people living with HIV. 

Photo Credit: VOA

“We will scale up provision to Antiretroviral therapy (ART) through differentiated care approaches to optimise outcomes of treatment, while strengthening services to end stigma and discrimination. In line with our theme, this will include greater focus on Covid-19 and other pandemics that we should concurrently end,” he said.

Mr Zizhou said that in administering the Aids Trust Fund, the NAC has invested significant resources in rolling out public HIV prevention campaigns meant for people to know their status and bringing HIV testing to communities.

“Ladies and gentlemen, resources to optimally execute the response remain limited. The funding gap continues to widen in view of limited domestic and international investment into the response.

There is a need therefore for increased domestic investment and adoption of efficient cost savings mechanisms in procurement and programme implementation. 

“At the same time, we spent over 50 percent of the National Aids Trust Fund to procure and support antiretroviral therapy.

Although the value of the Fund has been affected by the economic vicissitudes, we are glad that it continues to represent national commitment and contribution by Zimbabweans towards ending Aids,” he said.

Dr Kudzai Masinire who was standing in for the Provincial Medical Director Dr Amedius Shamu said that the measures require sustaining and scaling up so that all our people access and utilise relevant services, despite their geography, nature or occupation.

“We have to expand our services to reach everyone without leaving anyone behind. I am therefore calling upon the Ministry of  Health and Child Care, the National Aids Council and partners in the national response to revolutionise and introduce innovative and                                                                                 sensitive interventions to halt the spread of HIV among specific population sub-groups such as adolescent girls and young women, young men, sex workers and other key populations, including artisanal miners and long-distance transporters. 

“I am fully aware that our ambitious pursuit of the drive to end Aids, inequalities and other pandemics will require more resources. Even though we have our National Aids Trust Fund (Aids Levy), we shall always need assistance from our global partners given the magnitude of the challenges,” said Dr Masinire.

Zimbabwe has managed to reduce the HIV incidence rate from 0.48 percent in 2016 to 0.27percent in 2020, while the prevalence has dropped from 13.9 percent to 11.8 percent during the same period. At the same time, the country has expanded access to Antiretroviral Therapy from 800 000 in 2016 to 1,2 million in 2021.

Among adults, the number of new infections has declined by 42.1percent while in children it declined by 22.4 percent between the same period. Among the 10-19-year age group, infections declined by 44.3 percent and by 44.4 percent among the 15-24-year age group.

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