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In an interview, DAAC Gweru Urban chairperson Mr Murari Hwingwiri said the programme would be launched at a Gweru District belated World Aids Day commemoration tomorrow in the city’s central business district.
He said Gweru urban DAAC embarked on a church-led World Aids Day since the church was an integral institution that played a crucial role in promoting peace, love and togetherness in society.
“We thought of engaging in a church-led World Aids Day commemoration with the objective of fighting stigma and discrimination that exist in communities and the church. Church members are from the communities where HIV and Aids exist,” said Mr Hwingwiri.
“Churches do not exist as islands, their members are not immune to the pandemic. Stigma and discrimination need to be addressed both in the church and communities.
“We want to send across the message that the church is an integral institution in the fight against HIV and Aids. There are occasions when churches block the holding of influential positions, like a deacon, by people on anti-retroviral Tterapy (ART). This attitude is discriminatory and goes against Christian principles of love, tolerance and acceptance.”
He said churches should act as pillars of hope and spiritual support for the HIV affected and infected.
“However, more often than not, this is not the case within the church as people living with HIV and Aids are discriminated against. There has also been a tendency by HIV positive people to discriminate against themselves, resulting in them failing to attend church services. They tell themselves that they have already sinned and that is not the right attitude.
“If Jesus forgave a prostitute, a sinner, it therefore means God forgives and does not look at your HIV status. It is not good for people to moralise HIV and Aids as this would make it difficult to attain zero levels of new infections and deaths,” said Mr Hwingwiri.
The Gweru Urban DAAC would be holding the belated commemorations under the 2011-2012 national theme: “Getting to Zero: zero HIV new infections, zero HIV related deaths, zero discrimination. Leaders make a universal access a reality.”
The guest of honour will be Vice-President Joice Mujuru. Gospel diva Fungisai Zvakavapano-Mashavave, who is also a National Aids Council of Zimbabwe board member, will also grace the occasion.
Mr Hwingwiri said the theme was a clarion call to enable stakeholders to achieve their set goals as enshrined in the Zimbabwe HIV and Aids National Strategic Plan (ZINSP).
The plan calls for scaling up of HIV prevention and treatment services.
Meanwhile, HIV and Aids awareness programmes in Zimbabwe are making an impact on most people’s lives as more individuals are now willing to go for voluntary counselling and testing, said Mr Hwingwiri.
Although he could not readily avail last year’s figures, Mr Hwingwiri said 2 534 pregnant women in Gweru Urban went for testing.
“Out of this number, 342 tested HIV positive. If these are placed on the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission they can give birth to HIV negative babies. They can then access the Most Efficacious Regiment drug (MER) which is quite effective in preventing the spread of HIV to unborn babies,” he said.
Mr Hwingwiri said 8 211 people in Gweru urban went for pretest counselling and 8 201 were tested for HIV.
He said by December last year, 1 660 people in Gweru Urban had tested positive.
“By the same period last year, the whole of Gweru district, that is urban and Vungu, which is rural, had a total of 17 069 people on ART.
In Gweru urban we had 12 513 and 1 356 children on ART while in Gweru rural we had a total of 3 200 people on ART. This proves that we are beginning to have more people responding to our awareness campaigns and going for voluntary testing,” said Mr Hwingwiri.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter