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Thandeka Moyo, Health Reporter
BULAWAYO must work to end Vuzu parties as they are a threat to efforts to bring down the city’s HIV prevalence rate which is standing at 17 percent.
The city’s residents have also been urged to practice safe sex to reduce new infections which may deter the country from ending HIV/Aids in 2030.
Speaking during a Bulawayo Provincial Zimbabwe Population HIV Impact Assessment (ZIMPHIA) 2020 meeting yesterday, Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister Judith Moyo said Vuzu parties, popular among school going children, were a threat to the country’s progress in ending HIV/Aids.
The Minister said highly trained teams of professionals would be visiting selected households to carry out an HIV assessment and people must support them.
“We have children as young as 13 engaging in risky sexual behaviour and we have tried engaging police to help in deterring them. Parents and guardians need to be extra careful and ensure their children are in the right place at the right time so that we win,” said Minister Ncube.
She urged stakeholders to join forces especially religious and traditional leaders to help spread awareness around safe sex.
“We need to continue to scale up on our innovations and best practices and ensure that we are reaching all key and vulnerable populations that are at high risk and ensure that we provide relevant HIV services and products. We also cannot continue to rely on our previous results and therefore the need to carry out another assessment and have the latest picture of the impact of the HIV epidemic in Zimbabwe,” said Minister Ncube.
The ZIMPHIA 2020 survey, according to Minister Ncube, will also measure HIV-related risk behaviours using a nationally representative sample.
The survey starts on Monday.
Acting National Aids Council (Nac) chief executive officer Mr Amon Mpofu said residents must test for HIV regularly.
“As we work towards ZIMPHIA 2020, it is important that we emphasise the need for Bulawayo to condomise. Surely there is no valid reason why the HIV prevalence should remain high just like in Matabeleland South hence my advice that residents should condomise,” he said.
“Those who complain about condom prices should try and sacrifice because our health needs are as important as the bread we eat daily. For us to achieve our 2020 and 2030 goals we should also deal with Vuzu parties as a matter of urgency.”
The ZIMPHIA study is a population household survey led by the Health and Child Care Ministry working in collaboration with the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT), National Aids Council (NAC), and ICAP at Columbia University in the US.
It is supported by the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) through the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
A similar study, the first of its kind in Africa, was carried out in 2015 and showed that Zimbabwe’s HIV prevalence had dropped to 14,6 percent. — @thamamoe
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