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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Senior Health Reporter
Zimbabwe has started implementing a research study aimed at analysing women’s choices regarding available HIV prevention products.
The country is one of five countries implementing the study named Catalysing Access to New Prevention Products to Stop HIV, or CATALYST, which will introduce three pre-exposure prophylaxis products that include the dapivirine ring, oral PrEP and the injectable PrEP to women.
Results from the study will be used to roll out these products to the greater population of Zimbabwe.
The CATALYST study is being implemented in six public health institutions in the country by the Government in partnership with Pangaea Zimbabwe Aids Trust (PZAT), the Organisation for Public Health Interventions and Development (OPHID) and the Centre for Sexual Health and HIV AIDS Research in Zimbabwe.
Speaking at a site visit by the Health Communicators’ Forum at one of the implementing sites in Chitungwiza yesterday, CATALYST co-principal investigator Dr Emily Gwavava said all products being provided under the project had already gone through clinical trials and been approved by relevant authorities.
“What we realized as the Maximising Options to Advance Informed Choice for HIV Prevention (MOSAIC) project that is doing the CATALYST study is that our women are bearing the brunt of the HIV pandemic. So we are bringing two additional pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) methods in addition to what is already existing. We are already offering oral PrEP at the sites that we are working in and we introduced the dapivirine vaginal ring and the long-acting injectable cabotegravir,” she said.
Zimbabwe approved the use of the vaginal ring in July 2021 while the long acting injectable PrEP was approved last year, making the country the first on the continent to approve its use.
The CATALYST study is currently offering the oral PrEP and the vaginal ring and, according to Dr Gwavava, the long acting CAB-PrEP would hopefully be added onto the list of products available by February next year.
“The lessons that we will learn from this study will be packaged and used to inform the Ministry of Health and Child Care of what they need to be aware of at individual level, community, facility level in order to scale these products beyond the CATALYST study, “ said Dr Gwavava.
The study had been informed by the results of the National HIV Survey which showed that women who are 15 years and above are three times more likely to be infected by HIV than men.
The survey also found that there were pockets of new infections among adolescent girls and young women and their data separately showed that they were five to eight times more likely to be infected between the ages of 16 to 24 than the males in that same age group.
“We have also been seeing a lot of women who register their pregnancies HIV negative but then when they finish breastfeeding, they are HIV positive and yet we have these prevention products within our facilities.
“We thought that it would be great to close that gap of new infections between the women and men in Zimbabwe,” she added.
Online Reporter