Online Reporter
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu,[email protected]
The National AIDS Council (NAC), together with its partners, is mainstreaming the use of a targeted approach in the fight against HIV in order to safeguard gains that have been achieved over the past two decades.
Speaking in an interview during a media tour in Bulilima and Mangwe districts, NAC Matabeleland South Provincial Manager, Mr Mgcini Sibanda, said the targeted approach is informed by the key populations and the risks they face.
HIV prevention in Zimbabwe includes a multi-faceted approach, combining medical interventions such as voluntary male circumcision and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), with behavioural and community-based programmes.
The country uses a combination approach to HIV prevention that includes biomedical, behavioural, and structural interventions tailored to different at-risk groups. Key models include a combination of oral and injectable PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) for high-risk individuals, peer-led programmes like Brotha2Brotha and Sista2Sista for young people and other vulnerable groups, STI testing, and HIV prevention, among others.
“In the past we were doing a generalised HIV prevention strategy both for demand creation, HIV testing and all the other thematic areas. The fact that now more than 96 percent of the population are estimated to be living with HIV now know their HIV status. Of those who know their HIV status, more than 96 percent are now on treatment.
“Of those who are on treatment, more than 96 percent are virally suppressed. So now we have reached a point where we are saying we will need to sustain these gains. In sustaining the gains, we are now looking at the pockets of individuals, looking at the spatial and geographical areas where they are found,” he said.
Zimbabwe has achieved high rates of HIV testing and treatment, exceeding the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets for adults, with 97 percent of people with HIV knowing their status, over 95 percent on treatment, and 96 percent on treatment with viral suppression.
@DubeMatutu
