admin
MATABELELAND North Province is set to become the “centre of excellence for HIV and Aids treatment in the country”, amid indications that the province has scored a first by offering viral load testing in a public insititution the country.
The province is also set to get a new state-of-the-art laboratory for HIV and Aids treatment. The provincial medical director, Dr Nyasha Masuka, said a laboratory at Hwange Colliery Hospital will be refurbished by Government following the Zimbabwe Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (Zimphia) survey.
Beat Aids Project Zimbabwe (BAPZ), he said, has already refurbished a laboratory in Victoria Falls and the Ministry of Health and Child Care has since started testing for viral load in HIV patients.
The World Health Organisation HIV treatment guidelines call for patients to receive a viral load test once a year to allow the switching of clients to favourable drugs.
A viral load test measures the number of HIV particles in a blood sample. However, due to limited funds, Zimbabwe is presently providing repeat CD4 count checks which are considerably cheaper than viral load testing.
Since Government does not have the money for viral load monitoring, it has been forced to rely on CD4 counts.
“We have entered into partnership which we have started in Victoria Falls with Beat Aids Project Zimbabwe. They bought a viral load machine for us and this is helping to establish a centre of excellence for HIV management in Zimbabwe. For the viral loads we are not yet doing them as a country because they are expensive. Fortunately we are the first ones to test for viral loads,” said Dr Masuka.
“As Matabeleland North we will be able to test patient’s viral load. We have already done a few tests and the results we got are important in that they are going to inform policy makers and also suggest that we should move quickly with viral load. Through viral load monitoring we will be able to ascertain whether the virus is being suppressed or it’s multiplying.
“We have started our tests on local people and once we have established the pattern we can then extend our help to Matabeleland South, Bulawayo and other provinces as well.”
Turning on to Zimphia where about 30 000 peoplewho were randomly selected are expected to go through voluntary counselling and testing for HIV as well as syphilis by the end of the programme, Dr Masuka said the laboratory in Hwange will be able to address distance challenges that are faced by patients in accessing medication.
Icap at Columbia University chief of party, Dr Godfrey Musuku, which is conducting the Zimphia survey said the laboratory in Hwange will be equipped with 27 pima machines (used for CD4 count testing) and 45 height boards and scales (for growth monitoring).
The findings of the Zimphia survey will help shape national policies and programmes to confront the epidemic. Primary objectives of Zimphia are to ascertain HIV incidence (new HIV infections) at a national level, and to estimate the provincial prevalence of suppressed HIV viral load in a nationally representative sample of adults.
The Ministry of Health and Child Care is leading the implementation of Zimphia in partnership with the National Aids Council, Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, Biomedical Research and Training Institute and other international partners which include Icap at Columbia University, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and Westat.
Online Reporter