Ministry receives 20 vehicles for hiv survey

Whinsley Masara in Harare
THE Ministry of Health and Child Care has received 20 vehicles to help undertake a groundbreaking survey, the Zimbabwe Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (ZIMPHIA). Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa said the survey is going to help the country to effectively control HIV and Aids. “My Ministry is very excited about ZIMPHIA as its results will offer us a platform as policy-makers to better understand the relative impact of HIV at population level and additionally provide participants with an opportunity to know their HIV status,” said Dr Parirenyatwa.

“I’m happy that ZIMPHIA has been designed to make meaningful contribution to specific results in the ZimAsset, which is our national guiding blueprint for socio-economic development.” The survey that would be conducted by the Biomedical Research and Training Institute in collaboration with ZimStat, the National Aids Council and ICAP at Columbia University, will commence in October and is expected to run for six months.

United States Deputy Chief of Mission to Zimbabwe, Robert Scott handed over 20 vehicles to the Health Ministry for use during the exercise. “We believe that ZIMPHIA is one of the ways to attain epidemic control in Zimbabwe as we continue to work towards the goal of reaching an Aids-free generation,” said Scott.

The Director of the Aids and TB Unit in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr Owen Mugurungi, said the assessment seeks to ascertain the burden of HIV and Aids in the country and the impact of interventions made so far. He said 15,000 households randomly selected from all the country’s 10 provinces would be involved in the study.

“Zimbabwe would lead by example as it is the first African country to conduct such a survey,” said Dr Mugurungi. He said the key focus of the survey includes prevalence of HIV in adults and children, prevalence of anti-retroviral drug resistance, prevalence of syphilis among adults and coverage of ARVs in the country.

“It gives us an opportunity to take stock as government on what we’ve managed to achieve as a country in the last 10 years or so after HIV was declared an emergency in 2002. This survey is the first of its kind in Africa and we’ll be a global example of HIV impact assessment and the experience will give direction and pointers to other countries,” he said.

At least $3 million has been set aside for the survey, with substantial financial support from the United States President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR). ICAP at Columbia University representative Dr Godfrey Masuka said: “So far, 111 nurses and 15 laboratory scientists have been trained and 20 vehicles have been handed over to the Ministry of Health.

“The 15,000 homesteads to be visited are expected to provide information that will help government better understand the impact of its intervention strategies. The survey will give us a better understanding of the HIV epidemic in all parts of the country and also answers on whether the interventions are working or not.”