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Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
ON 1 December which was World Aids Day I got tested for HIV and made a recommitment to maintain a negative status.
A recommitment in the days where the threat of HIV is real, one has to constantly remind him/herself that life is precious and that failure to adhere to certain principles can get you infected.
It took just a few minutes under a small tent at Mbizo Stadium in Kwekwe where the national World Aids Day Commemorations were taking place to get tested. This is the message I want to send home: Know your status first and get treatment.
The Ministry of Health and Child Care this year, said they are running with the theme “Test and treat all”.
The central idea being that all people in the country must get tested and commence treatment as soon as they test positive.
Why because waiting until one’s CD4 count starts to diminish is not ideal.
Deputy Director in the Aids and TB unit Dr Tsisti Apollo said about one million people in Zimbabwe were now on HIV treatment.
“At least 915 486 people are on treatment at the moment with 60 percent being adults and 40 percent children. We still need to initiate more,” she said.
Dr Apollo said the ministry is now targeting to initiate Antiretroviral therapy (ART) at any CD4 level and also to prioritise the very sick so that they access treatment.
Zimbabwe has over the years been giving ART to patients whose CD4 count was below 500 but they have since adopted to treat anyone who tests positive.
This is done to ensure that the virus is kept under control.
Dr Apollo said pregnant women and children also remain a priority for the ministry and will all be treated upon testing too.
Men have been said to be the biggest let down in terms of testing as they shy away.
“Men do not come for testing, more women actually come and this is evidence that stigma and discrimination is still an issue that needs to be dealt with.
“ Our men are lost; there is a high death rate because of this. The ministry will make interventions to deal with the issue,” she said.
Mrs Loveness Mlambo-Chimombe from the Organisation for Public Health Interventions and Development (OPHID) said of all the people who test for HIV 12-13 percent are lost to care.
“There is a need for follow ups of all people who test for HIV and are on treatment, retention is important, we need to follow up on people up to the end. We have tried to do this by using community health workers who visit the patients,” she said.
Mrs Mlambo-Chimombe said the biggest challenge that sees patients being lost is that some are not permanent home owners so they move from place to place and tracking them may be difficult at times.
She, however, said her organisation was engaging religious leaders to spread the word of HIV to congregants and encourage them to be tested and treated for HIV as soon as possible.
Director Aids and TB unit in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Dr Owen Mugurungi said if people know their status early and commence treatment immediately they can increase their life span to beyond 60 years.
“We have a challenge that people are not coming for testing soon enough, when they do come adherence becomes an issue in some cases so we have to work hard and ensure such things are avoided,” he said.
He said people in stable unions have to know their status and not rely on one partner’s results.
He said one partner can get tested and use that to judge if they are HIV positive or not which was highly discouraged.
One new intervention that the ministry has embarked on to ensure that people know their HIV status is through self-testing.
“We have done pilot studies and we have seen that people are willing to self-test, they are enthusiastic about it so we will then have it available for the whole country very soon,” said Dr Mugurungi.
During the World Aids Day commemorations the Mayor of Kwekwe Matenda Madzoke also got tested for HIV and publicly announced his negative status.
He said he was leading by example.
“I am leading by example; I want those that I lead to equally do the same. People need to be encouraged to know their status and also get started on treatment as soon as they test. This way people live longer,” he said.
While efforts are being made to ensure that Zimbabweans have access to HIV testing, treatment and care, it still remains the duty of individuals to go for testing and be initiated on treatment so that they prolong their lives and also to see that by 2030 HIV is eliminated according to UNAIDS.
Online Reporter