Drop-in centres a game changer in HIV prevention

Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter

DROP-in centres that cater for health needs of key populations affected by HIV in Zimbabwe have played a critical role in addressing barriers to access of preventive drugs, condoms, counselling and testing services to name a few.

These barriers to access are largely because of the nature of some key populations that include commercial sex workers.

This prompted development partners in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and Child Care to come up with the Centre for Sexual Health, HIV and Health Research (CeSHHAR) Drop-in Centres where some vulnerable groups can access essential HIV services.

One such Drop in Centre is found in Makoni District in Manicaland

The District Aids Co-ordinator for Makoni Mr Shingirirai Banguza said the centre is a game changer as key populations have a safe space for not only accessing service but also discussing issues affecting them in their line of work.

“This centre plays a pivotal role in our fight against new HIV infections as you are aware our vision is to end Aids by 2030 and also have zero stigma and discrimination towards people with HIV.

“In this fight we work with various partners as this is a multi-sectoral response, in this district we work with CeSHHAR as a partner in terms of addressing Key populations and we have been getting positive results. There has been a significant decline in HIV infections among the general population,” said Mr Banguza.

He said they have noticed that there are pockets of new HIV infections in the district and these are the populations they are paying more attention to.

“These are what we call key populations. According to our Zimbabwe National AIDS Strategic Plan that is running up to 2025 it clearly stipulates that key populations are at significant risk of spreading or getting HIV infection.

“These include but are not limited to female sex workers due to their sexual behaviours. We have realised that if we do not provide services to these key populations, we are going to reverse the gains we have made so far in reducing new HIV infections among the general population,” he said.

Mr Banguza said the general population is affected because that is where the sex workers also find their clients.

“One would wonder why the key populations do not go through the public health centres provided by the Ministry of Health. What we have noticed is that since this group of people conduct sex work, they find themselves marginalised and discriminated by the community such that they are not comfortable to visit public hospitals because of this. In some cases they end up not visiting health facilities due to discrimination,” he added.

The DAC however, emphasised that Drop-in Centres were not established to promote or advocate for sex work saying it is only there to provide sex workers and also their clients.

“We also have a category of high-risk men that are the customers of sex workers. We realised we may help the sex workers but they return to their customers and if these clients are not helped, the cycle of infection continues. When they come to the facility, they are screened for STIs, HIV, offered family planning services among other services for free,” he highlighted.

Those that are HIV-positive are initiated on Antiretrovirals and monitored for a period of six months before being handed over to the Ministry of Health and Child Care while those diagnosed with STI’s are offered treatment.

Sex workers that are in transit to other areas may also walk in and get services and are offered travel packs where they are given Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), condoms and other services they may need as they travel to ensure they prevent infections.

To cater for the sex workers in totality, the staff at the Drop-in Centre offer night outreaches to cater for clients who need services after the usual operating times.

They provide all services at the sites where sex workers will be operating from.

@NyembeziMu