adminDay commemorations.
The head of the information, education, and communication sub committee of the organising team Mr Dyson Masvingise said Manicaland had already reached the halfway mark expressing hope of reaching the target.
“It’s all a part of awareness-raising ahead of the commemorations to be hosted at Sakubva Stadium on December 1.
“We are constantly running programmes to make people in the province aware of HIV and how we can prevent it, or treat the condition,” Mr Masvingise said.
He is also the provincial information, education and communication manager for the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council.
“All Aids service organisations in the province have been working towards achieving the target, besides their daily programmes which enhance the spread of information on HIV across the province’s seven districts,” he said.
Population Services International, Family Aids Caring Trust, ZNFPC and the International Organisation of Migration are some of the key stakeholders in the projects.
“Last year, Mashonaland East managed to conduct 36 000 tests when they held the World Aids Day commemorations, and we intend to go further than this,” he said.
Mr Masvingise said the numbers had been boosted by a positive response from the Johane Marange apostolic church’s national meeting in October where more than 1 000 people went for testing.
“We are going to have a number of pre-launch activities in the build up to the day.
“One such event will be a mobilisation programme and mobile VCT exercise in Chiadzwa from November 14-16.”
He said the province was also conducting outreach programmes in high-risk areas such as Chiadzwa. World Aids Day is observed on December 1 each year and is dedicated to raising awareness of HIV and Aids.
The theme for this year’s commemorations which runs up to 2015 is:
“Getting to Zero.” Zero New HIV Infections. Zero discrimination and zero Aids-related deaths.
Online Reporter