HIV testing teams to visit homes

10 Nov, 2019 - 00:11 0 Views
HIV testing teams to visit homes

The Sunday News

Thobekile Khumalo, Sunday News Reporter

NATIONAL Aids Council (Nac) working with Zimbabwe Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (Zimphia) has launched a sensitisation survey in Bulawayo in order to collect data to assess how far the country has gone towards achieving the 90-90-90 UNAIDS targets.

The 90-90-90 is a UNAIDS initiative aimed at ensuring that by next year, 90 percent of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status and 90 percent of all people diagnosed with HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy. 

It also aims to ensure that of 90 percent of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression. 

The overall aim is to ensure that Aids is eliminated by 2030.

In an interview, Nac Bulawayo provincial manager Mrs Sinatra Nyathi said that there are selected teams that will be going out into the fields to conduct the survey.

“Selected teams will go to households to test people and those found HIV-positive are going to be linked to care. 

“Then those that are already on ARVs are going to have their viral load tested so that we check our viral suppression in the community. 

“These teams compromise nurses and laboratory technicians that will be taking samples of blood for testing so that at the end of day they will be able to tell us as a country how much progress is there in making sure that people living with HIV know their status and finding out the number of those who know their status. 

“We also want to know the number of those on the Antiretroviral (ARVs) and that how many of them will have their viral load suppressed to undetectable levels meaning their chance of infecting others being reduced,” she said.

She said that the sensitisation survey has already started.

“The survey has already started with the sensitisation in four provinces that are Manicaland, Matabeleland South, Matabeleland North, Bulawayo and next week we are proceeding to the remaining provinces,” said Mrs Nyathi.

Mrs Nyathi called upon the Bulawayo community to sensitise itself and get to know about Zimphia so that they have a positive attitude. 

“I am saying to the Bulawayo community lets know about Zimphia and let us sensitise our families and communities and also be positive when they come because it’s for a good cause for the country to know where we are,” she said.

She applauded Bulawayo for its overwhelming support and   response towards the achievement of this goal.

“So far, the response has been overwhelming like in Bulawayo churches, organisations, traditional leaders and the civil society have been responding to this initiative and the last time we held an event we were expecting only 100 people to attend but over 150 people attended,” she said. 

@thobekilekae 

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