Chronicle Editor
Yoliswa Dube-Moyo, Matabeleland South Bureau Chief
The DREAMS (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe) programme in Gwanda District continues to empower adolescent girls and young women through youth-friendly reproductive health care and social asset building.
DREAMS is a USAid funded programme which also mobilises communities for change with school and community-based HIV and violence prevention.
In a report, USAid highlighted that the DREAMS programme also seeks to reduce risk of sex partners through PEPFAR programming, including HIV testing, treatment, and voluntary medical male circumcision.
“Strengthening families with social protection, education subsidies, combination socio-economic approaches and parent/caregiver programs. The DREAMS partnership is an ambitious public-private partnership aimed at reducing rates of HIV among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in the highest HIV burden countries,” read the report.
Speaking during a community engagement meeting in Gwanda District yesterday, a DREAMS representative, Ms Caroline Mathe said the programme seeks to empower young girls.
“The programme primarily focuses on adolescent girls because we’ve come to the realisation that some of the behaviours, they exhibit are a result of being idle, poverty and the lack of self-determination,” said Ms Mathe.
She said DREAMS aims to enlighten girls so that they can aim higher.
“We have platforms that teach girls how to handle themselves. Parents are also taught how to handle their daughters. A good relationship between a mother and her daughter builds the child’s hopes and aspirations,” said Ms Mathe.
The number of pregnant girls who dropped out of school is still high across the country despite the existence of a law allowing them to remain in school even after being impregnated.
The Education Act which was amended recently makes it illegal to expel pupils who fall pregnant.
Teenage pregnancies or child marriages, financial constraints and low perception on education have been cited as some of the reasons contributing to pupils dropping out of school.
Prolonged school closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic worsened the situation.
Statistics from The Ministry of Health and Child Care show that from January to June, of the 267 teenage pregnancies recorded in Matabeleland South, a majority of them were reported in Umzingwane (61) and Beitbridge (60) followed by Bulilima (58), Matobo (57), Gwanda (51) and Mangwe (48).
The lowest pregnancies were recorded in Insiza, which had a total of 31 girls aged below 16 giving birth.
Besides the high number of teenage girls getting pregnant, Matabeleland South also has the highest HIV prevalence in Zimbabwe.
DREAMS was announced on World Aids Day 2014, and since 2015 has expanded from the original 10 to 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa including Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, eSwatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Sudan, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe and Haiti.
According to statistics, around 5 000 adolescent girls and young women aged 15 to 24 years globally become infected with HIV every week.
In sub-Saharan Africa, six in seven new HIV infections among adolescents aged 15 to 19 years are among adolescent girls.
Around 4 200 adolescent girls and young women aged 15 to 24 years became infected with HIV every week in 2020.
“Social isolation, poverty, discriminatory cultural norms, orphanhood, gender-based violence, and inadequate schooling all contribute to their vulnerability to HIV and a life not lived to its full potential. The DREAMS partnership goes beyond individual health initiatives to address these factors, working toward meeting the Sustainable Development Goal of ending Aids by 2030.” – @Yolisswa
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