Zimbabwe HIV/Aids prevalence rate down to 11%

on September 15, 2023 in News

ZIMBABWE has made significant strides towards ending HIV and Aids by 2030, with the prevalence rate now at 11% while the incidence rate is below two percent nationally.

The prevalence rate, 12,9% as at December 2020, is still high in border towns and among key populations such as sex workers, same-sex partners, and transgender and drug abusers.

Globally in all countries, there has been a general decline in HIV infections and Zimbabwe has the largest decline of 57% in Southern Africa, while some countries have an increase in new infections.

Giving an update on HIV and Aids response in the country at the ongoing 10th edition of the Uniformed Forces health services conference in Victoria Falls, National Aids Council monitoring and evaluation director, Mr Amon Mpofu said the country now needs to intensify measures that sustain the gains achieved so far.

National Aids Council monitoring and evaluation director Mr Amon Mpofu

Mr Mpofu said programmes such as prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMCT), and anti-retroviral therapy (ART), among others, have played a significant role in preventing deaths. He said there is a need for behaviour change to prevent new infections.

The HIV population in Zimbabwe is around 1,3 million and it varies by province. Harare and border towns such as Beitbridge and Plumtree have the highest because of their proximity to the region.

“Our prevalence of 11% continues to decline as confirmed by our HIV estimates. Incidence have gone down to 1,7% nationally and we all know that we want to end Aids by 2030 and it shows that we have to bend the graph,” said Mr Mpofu.

“We have done so well, but we still have a lot of challenges here among the female sex workers where the prevalence is as high as 54%. This is quite high among men having sex with men and prevalence is around 21%.”

Mr Mpofu said for people injecting drugs it is 29% while for transgender it is 28,0%.

“We have run different models and all of them confirm that we have a bigger problem among key populations. Extraordinary measures are needed for us to get there. The country is on course but the work ahead is great to be able to get to that point of bending the graph by 2030,” he said.

Mr Mpofu said great strides have been made towards the 90-90-90 target on HIV prevention, a concept introduced by the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS in 2013.

In 2020, 90% of people who are HIV-infected were supposed to be diagnosed, 90% of people who were diagnosed were to be on antiretroviral treatment and 90% of those who receive antiretroviral treatment to be virally suppressed.

The country is set to host the International Conference on Aids and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA) in Harare between December 3 and 9.

The event will run under the theme Aids is not Over: Address Inequalities, Accelerate Innovation and Inclusion.

Mr Mpofu said more needs to be done as the number of new infections and HIV-related deaths is still unacceptably high while HIV-related stigma and discrimination is still prevalent in terms of the targets.

“We have realised that the biggest challenge is transmission through mother to child and also among young girls and among men. So, we really need to address these issues, and it gives us a challenge as a country,” he said.

“As much as we have done so well in the general population, we still have a challenge among these populations which we call key populations and we need programmes now that will target them so that we get to bend that graph to reach our epidemic control for ending Aids by 2030.”

Mr Mpofu said Zimbabwe is experiencing a decline, which needs to be sustained since HIV is based on behaviour.

He said there is a need to intensify local funding than to rely on foreign funders.

HIV and Aids and TB Unit director in the Health and Child Care ministry, Dr Owen Mugurungi said HIV is one of the longest-standing epidemics in the country, which remains a socio-political and security threat.

He said the country’s success is a result of decentralised diagnostic, treatment and tracking services.

SOURCE: The Chronicle via https://www.chronicle.co.zw/zimbabwe-hivaids-prevalence-rate-down-to-11-percent/