The Sunday News
Sunday News Reporters
VICE-President Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa has challenged the United States government to restore bilateral relations with Zimbabwe, building on the humanitarian support that the American administration has given Zimbabwe over the years.
Political relations between the two countries have been frosty for more than a decade after the George W Bush led administration imposed illegal economic sanctions on Zimbabwe. VP Mnangagwa said, despite poor relations between Washington and Harare, the former had supported Zimbabwe’s health sector with more than $1 billion over the past 10 years.
Expressing gratitude for the US government’s support, VP Mnangagwa said the American government should now move to improve relations with Zimbabwe. He reiterated Government’s position that the incoming Donald Trump administration maybe a window for America to restore its bilateral relations with Zimbabwe.
VP Mnangagwa made these remarks at the World Aids Day commemorations in Kwekwe on Thursday, where he was the guest of honour.
“Despite our poor relations, the American administration represented here by Ambassador (Harry Keels) Thomas, they have continued to support us in the humanitarian sector despite that relationship. For the last decade, they have given us over $1 billion for humanitarian services. We are thankful Ambassador. Asika mochiimprover wo ka marelations, handiti kwavuya naTrump. (You however need to improve relations with us. You now have (president elect) Donald Trump),” he remarked to Ambassador Thomas.
VP Mnangagwa bemoaned limited funding which he said was stifling Zimbabwe’s HIV and Aids response programme, adding that Government was exploring various ways, including engaging partners to secure adequate funding. He, however, expressed confidence that the US Government will continue giving Zimbabwe humanitarian support.
“I am aware however, that funding is a major challenge stifling national response to HIV and aids. More than 80 percent of the funding for the response comes from external sources. In addition to continuing to engage our donors and partners in this regard, the Government of Zimbabwe is exploring various sustainable ways to augment funding for the national response. The fact that we have Ambassador Thomas here with us, gives confidence that in future we expect continued support from the US,” he said.
Meanwhile, VP Mnangagwa launched the National Guidelines for Antiretroviral Therapy for Prevention and Treatment of HIV, which are expected to take the country a long way towards achieving the 90-90-90 targets.
The 90-90-90 is a concept introduced by the United Nation’s programme on HIV/Aids in 2013. The idea behind the concept is that by 2020, 90 percent of people who living with HIV will know their status, 90 percent of people who are diagnosed will be on antiretroviral treatment and 90 percent of those who receive antiretroviral drugs will be virally suppressed.
With the new national guidelines, more people are expected to receive treatment, while prevention of HIV transmission will be scaled up in a bid to end Aids by 2030.
Part of the guidelines, adopted from the WHO consolidated guidelines on HIV treatment and prevention, is the test and treat approach, which removes eligibility criteria for accessing HIV treatment.
Under this approach, anyone who tests HIV positive will be required to go on treatment immediately, unlike previously when the threshold for treatment was a CD4 count of 500 and bellow. More people are expected to go on treatment.
The new guidelines will also see the introduction of Pre Exposure Prophylaxis PrEP as an HIV prevention method for key populations that are at high risk of contracting the virus. VP Mnangagwa said the new guidelines will go a long way in closing the tap of new HIV infection.
He, however, called on the Ministry of Health and Child Care to increase the availability of viral load testing which he said will help in measuring the efficacy of antiretroviral drugs administered to people.
“I would like to call on the Ministry of Health and Child Care, the National Aids Council and partners to expand provision of and access to viral load testing services in line with the third 90 percent in the fast track targets.
“Viral load testing is essential to ascertain health status and how well antiretroviral therapy is controlling the virus in the people on treatment,” he said.
Launching of the National Guidelines for Antiretroviral Therapy for Prevention and Treatment of HIV also coincided with the release of the Zimbabwe Population Based HIV Impact Assessment (Zimphia) results. The results showed that the country has made notable progress in fighting HIV and Aids.
