The Sunday News
Munyaradzi Musiiwa, Midlands Correspondent
MORE than 5 000 Midlands State University (MSU) students received HIV testing and counselling services from different health service providers during a health expo organised by National Aids Council (Nac) Gweru district last week.
This comes against the background that there has been an increase in cases in HIV incidences among young people, mostly in tertiary institutions.
As a result Nac has stepped up interventions for the key populations such as youths, sex workers, men having sex with men, cross-border traders, and truck drivers among others.
The Government is also mulling introducing condoms in prisons after researches were done by a team from Zimbabwe in Lesotho where inmates get contraceptive allocations including condoms.
In an interview on the sidelines of a two-day Health Expo at MSU, Gweru District Aids co-ordinator Mr Murari Hwingwiri said students were getting HIV testing and counselling services as well as tuberculosis, cervical cancer, diabetes and optical health services.
“We have engaged a lot of health service providers under the Ministry of Health and Child Care to provide services to learners at MSU. History has shown us that students are more comfortable in getting health services provided by other partners outside the universities. Maybe there are stigma issues. We are happy with the student turnout. Students were screened for tuberculosis, cervical cancer, diabetes, optical health and many others,” he said.
The move by MSU comes as statistics from the National Aids Council (Nac) showed that higher and tertiary education institutions have the highest rate of new HIV and Aids infections in the country.
Nac is now advocating for the mainstreaming of HIV and Aids in the tertiary institutions’ curricula.
