The Sunday News
ZIMBABWE is set to start its HIV self-testing programme at the beginning of next month on a pilot basis, with more than 375 000 expected to take part in the study.
This follows the successful launch of the HIV self-testing programme for Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi in Harare in December last year. The programme will see people now being able to test themselves for HIV through saliva swabs.
Zimbabwe’s pilot project, also known as STAR, will run for the next two years before being rolled out at full scale with over $23 million having been secured for the project.
Director of Aids and TB Unit in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Dr Owen Mugurungi told Sunday News last week that the programme will kick off after a lower scale study was successfully done in Harare and Shamva.
He said the self-testing programme comes in to offer more testing options for key populations who cannot be reached by available testing approaches.
“We are in line to start the programme next month and everything is set. The programme was launched in December last year for three countries, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia.
“We are going to pilot the programme for the next two years before we roll it out at full scale. The major aim of the pilot project is to gather evidence that HIV self-test is feasible.
“This will also help us to see how acceptable it is by locals so that we can work out where and what we need to adjust,” he said.
Added Dr Mugurungi: “The programme will target people lacking access to the available counselling and testing services. We are looking at key populations such as prisoners, commercial sex workers, long distance truck drivers and the youths.”
Following the launch of the HIV self-testing programme in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia, a total of 750 000 people from the three countries were expected to take part in the pilot study.
This will be the biggest study that has ever happened on HIV self-testing with the results from the research expected to influence global policy towards HIV self-testing.
“There have however, been concerns on the feasibility of HIV self-testing with critics saying the programme may lead to an upsurge in suicide, depression and domestic violence cases due to lack of effective counselling services before and after one gets their results.
However, Dr Mugurungi dismissed the assertion, insisting that the programme will be a success as other countries like Malawi had recorded success.
He reiterated Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa’s sentiments who, at the official launch of the self-test project last year, said the introduction of the self-test should be done gradually and systematically.
Dr Mugurungi said measures would be put in place to ensure individuals who would have tested positive after self-testing can immediately access counselling services.
“We are exploring a number of measures that we can put in place to ensure that people can quickly and easily access counselling services after self-testing. A 24-hour toll free telephone line will be put in place for those communities that have access to phones to get counselling services.
“For other remote communities who may not have easy access to phones we may then have counsellors stationed in each ward or village.
“The programme has been going on well in Malawi and that gives us confidence that we will not have problems here because our communities are more or less the same,” he said.
Statistics from the Ministry of Health and Child Care show that an estimated 1,2 million people are living with HIV in Zimbabwe.
Only 66 percent of Zimbabweans have been tested and know their HIV status.
“The HIV self-testing programme in Zimbabwe is being spearheaded by Population Services Zimbabwe in partnership with Government and is expected to address the low uptake of HIV testing.
