BY GAMUCHIRAI NYAMUZIWA
A GOVERNMENT one-stop-shop initiative has increased demand for integrated sexual and reproductive health and HIV services throughout the country, a World Health Organisation (WHO) report has revealed.
WHO supports the one-stop-shop project for HIV and sexual reproductive health (SRH) services technically and financially with four Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) clinics hosting the amenities.
The services are available at Spilhaus and Avenues Clinics in Harare, while Lister House and Mpilo Central Hospital offer them in Bulawayo.
Through the one-stop-shop concept introduced in 2020 by the Health and Child Care ministry, women in Zimbabwe receive a comprehensive package of quality family planning services such as contraceptives and HIV prevention and treatment services, in an environment free of stigma and discrimination.
According to HIV and TB technical officer Mkhokheli Ngwenya, HIV and SRH service integration has led to improvements in the quality of healthcare provided at facilities and improved health outcomes for clients this year compared to previous years.
“In the past two years, the project has demonstrated improved access, uptake and outcomes of all integrated programmes as reflected through the data we collate and analyse annually for the project,” Health and Child Care HIV and TB programmes director Owen Mugurungi said.
“The one-stop-shop model of integration has become the new normal of service provision at all ZNFPC clinics. This is a critical milestone in going beyond learning lessons on the model to adopting it as the permanent way of service provision.”
Government is currently implementing capacity building initiatives to rollout the model to the remaining seven sites run by the ZNFPC.
“We are pleased that following the successes of the project in the four sites the MoHCC [Ministry of Health and Child Care] has decided to roll-out the project to seven other sites with plans for further rollout,” Ngwenya said.
Government is also planning to extend the model to public sector family planning clinics as well as central and provincial hospitals that have family planning clinics.