Communities urged to lead in HIV response

ZIMBABWE on Friday joined the rest of the world in commemorating World Aids Day. The commemorations are particularly important as they come immediately after the launch of the Triple Elimination of the Mother to Child Transmission Plan (2023-2026) and ahead of the International Conference on Aids and STIs in Africa (ICASA) which will run from tomorrow to next Saturday.

The theme for the 2023-2024 World Aids Day is Let communities lead, which is a call for global leaders and citizens to boldly recognise and address the inequalities which are holding back progress in ending Aids; and equalise access to essential HIV services particularly for children and key populations.

In his state-of-the-nation address on the eve of World Aids Day, President Emmerson Mnangagwa emphasised the need for communities to lead in the HIV response programme.

“Our theme this year, Let communities lead, emphasises the need for communities to be at the centre of the response and for their efforts to be recognized and supported,” he said.

“This theme resonates with efforts of my government in decentralizing power and resources to communities to chart their own development.

“The recently introduced National Aids Council social contracting has gone a long way in financially and technically empowering communities and civil society organizations through the National Aids Trust Fund, to be instrumental in expanding access to HIV prevention and treatment services.

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“Despite the reversals of progress forced upon us by the Covid-19, the response to HIV in Zimbabwe has rebounded and found its full steam.

“As a result, I am very glad to announce that the country has achieved epidemic control, with the number of new infections now less than the number of deaths per year.”

Mnangagwa said between 2010 and 2022, the country recorded the biggest decline of 78% in the number of new HIV infections in eastern and southern Africa.

“This has been due to the high impact HIV prevention interventions we have scaled up and sustained over the years. "New HIV infections have declined from 18,600 in 2021 to 17,300 in 2022,” he said.

“Although this is indeed a tremendous milestone, we cannot be complacent as doing so may lead to resurgence.

“We have to redouble our efforts and continue to mop up new infections from the pockets of our populations where they continue to occur.

“That means we have to re-sharpen our focus on adolescent girls and young women, sex workers, young men and other most-at-risk populations, including addressing socially disposing practices such as gender-based violence.”

Mnangagwa said he was encouraged with the countrywide male engagement campaigns implemented by the first lady Auxilia Mnangagwa.

“Community leaders and hundreds of thousands of men as well as women have been reached with key messages on utilising HIV prevention services and eradicating gender-based violence, which puts women and children at higher risk of infection,” he said.

Speaking at the World Aids Day commemorations held at Chinotimba Stadium on Friday the first lady emphasised the need for couples to be faithful.

“It is important for couples to be faithful as to reduce the spread of HIV,” she said.

“According to the data, we women are the most affected and infected.

“Where are we missing it? Who is not being faithful? Is it us women or it is our male counterparts bringing the disease home.”

She said the Health and Child Care ministry has adequate medicines to prevent transmission of HIV from the mother to the child.

“This, however, needs to be complemented by community involvement in ensuring that no child is unnecessarily exposed to and born with HIV,” she said.

“Communities should take a lead and ensure that all pregnant women register early and deliver at health centres.

“Communities also need to address several cultural vulnerabilities that put women and children at increased risk of HIV infection.

“Our chiefs and church leadership are therefore being called upon to sensitise their communities and followers to address these vulnerabilities.”

The first lady said Aids deaths have also continued to drop over the year due to the comprehensive antiretroviral therapy programme we are implementing.

“The trends in Aids deaths show that deaths have dropped from 25 000 in 2018 to 20 000 in 2022,” she said.

The first lady thanked President Mnangagwa for creating an enabling environment that has allowed communities to lead and respond to the HIV scourge.

Speaking at the commemorations the first lady of Nigeria Oluremi Tinubu said this year’s theme serves as a powerful reminder that the fight against HIV and Aids cannot be won without active involvement and leadership of communities around the world.

“For decades the global response to HIV and Aids has been driven by governments, international organisations and healthcare professionals,” she said.

“While their efforts have been commendable, it is time to recognise the pivotal role that communities play in shaping the response to this epidemic.

“Communities should be at the forefront of the fight against HIV and Aids and their leadership is crucial in achieving our goals of prevention, treatment and support.”

She congratulated Zimbabwe for winning the bid to host ICASA.

Health and Child Care minister Douglas Mombeshora said Zimbabwe’s HIV milestone was anchored on robust community structures.

“Earlier on, Zimbabwe adopted the multi-sectoral approach to the response to HIV, which has always put communities first in driving the response, providing leadership, financing, monitoring and holding government and stakeholders accountable,” he said.

“Zimbabwe is one of the countries with very strong community structures and participation, including the Aids Action Committees at various levels and networks of people living with HIV and for key populations, all which have been central in determining the course of our response and the achievements it has recorded.

“We commemorate the World Aids Day this year within an environment of optimism, having achieved the 95-95-95 targets and epidemic control.

“These achievements have been a result of sustained implementation of high impact HIV prevention interventions.

“In this regard, my Ministry has scaled up HIV testing coupled with Prep, PEP, PMTCT, condoms, voluntary medical male circumcision, targeting adolescent girls and young women, sex workers and other key populations and men, based on risk profiling and differentiated care needs.”

He said key programmes such the Dreams, Sista2Sista and various peer-led community interventions are transforming the HIV prevention landscape, giving renewed hope that with communities leading, HIV and Aids can be conquered.

National Aids Council chief executive officer Bernard Madzima said Zimbabwe has made significant progress in response to HIV in sync with the outcome goals of the National Development Strategy 1 on health and wellbeing.

“The country has already achieved the 95-95-95 targets among adults, where-in 95% of all HIV positive people should know their status, 95% of those who know their status should be on treatment and 95% of those on treatment should have their viral load undetectable, all by 2025,” he said.