Midlands Aids fight gobbles $21m in 2 years

Munyaradzi Musiiwa Midlands Correspondent
MIDLANDS Province spent more than $21 million in 2011 and 2012 in the fight against HIV and Aids.

National Aids Council (Nac), Midlands Provincial manager, Mambewu Shumba, said the funds went towards expenses incurred by individuals and companies in accessing HIV and AIDS treatment and counselling facilities.

He said Nac conducted a National Aids Spending Assessment (NSSA) to ascertain how funds were used by individuals, non-governmental organisations and companies towards access to HIV and AIDS treatment facilities as well as awareness programmes.

Presenting a paper at a workshop in Munyati in Kwekwe recently, Shumba said the assessments are conducted after every two years. He said the organisation was in the process of assessing the expenditure for 2013-2014.

“According to our assessments, we established that Midlands Province used more than $10, 7 million towards HIV and Aids treatment accessibility and other expenses in awareness programmes by companies between 2011 and 2012,” he said.

He said $8 million went towards expenses of individuals or households in accessing HIV and Aids treatment facilities.

Shumba said such expenses included busfares, X-rays, hospital consultation fees and CD4 Count (a blood test to determine how well the immune system is working).

“CD4 cells or T-helper cells are a type of white blood cells that fight infection and their count indicates the stage of HIV or Aids in a patient,” he said.

Shumba said $2, 7 million was channelled towards awareness campaigns and accessing HIV and Aids facilities by companies and NGOs in the province.

He said Nac was in the process of initiating a district based approach in dealing with the HIV and Aids pandemic.

“We realised that there are different situations and circumstances in which people contract HIV. Every district has its challenges that should be dealt with using strategies and methods that might be different from those that can be employed in another district,” he said.

Shumba said HIV prevalence remains high in the southern part of the country as well as border posts due to hyper activity at these areas.

He said artisanal miners were also at high risk of contracting HIV/Aids.