The Sunday News
Sharon Chimenya, Masvingo Correspondent
HIV prevalence rate in Masvingo is at 12,06 percent with Zaka District topping the province at 13,72 percent, the National Aids Council (Nac) has revealed.
In an interview last week, Nac Masvingo provincial manager Mr Agrippa Zizhou said people should continue to use condoms to reduce the number of new infections. He said Mwenezi has a prevalence rate of 12,93 percent while Chiredzi District has the lowest prevalence rate with 11,07 percent followed by Bikita with at 11,48 percent. Gutu District has a prevalence rate of 11,91 percent, Masvingo District 12,23 percent while Chivi has 12,51 percent.
“We continuously urge the people of Masvingo on the need to reduce the number of new infections and that they should always work together with the local community leadership in terms of preventing new HIV cases.
In our community leadership, we have the community condom holders who assist us in the distribution of condoms. Condoms help us in the prevention of new cases,” he said.
Mr Zizhou said Nac was working with different partners to ensure that the condom distributions were done at every level.
“We have partners that we are working with in terms of the condom distributions.
We have the PSI (Population Services International) who work with the key populations who include the sex workers, men who have sex with men and artisanal miners. They need protection during the sexual activities as they encounter different sexual partners. We also have the Zimbabwe National Family Planning (ZNFPC) who assists us in distributing the condoms.
We, however, encourage those who would have thought of engaging in sexual activities outside relationships such as marriages to always use condoms,” he said.
Zimbabwe has made great strides in reducing new cases of HIV over the years by implementing a number of programmes, among them the distribution of condoms and rolling out anti-retroviral drugs, among those living with the virus.
