adminTinomuda Chakanyuka Sunday News Reporter
THE country has witnessed a steady decrease in the number of people dying from HIV and Aids-related illnesses in the past 10 years, with the figure having gone down by more than 50 percent, statistics have shown. According to a preliminary report of the 2013 HIV estimates by the Ministry of Health and Child Care, last year about 60 000 people died of HIV-related illnesses, down from about 170 000 who died in 2003.
The report also shows that the number of deaths among children aged between zero and 14 years has also gone down from about 36 000 in 2003 to about 10 000 in 2013.
About 12 000 children died of HIV and Aids related illnesses in 2012, while 50 230 adult deaths were recorded in the same year with the figure going down to 49 600 in 2013.
The reports also show that the number of people getting infected by HIV had also significantly declined from 1,18 percent in 2012 to 1,05 percent last year.
Head of the AIDS and Tuberculosis Unit in the Health Ministry, Dr Owen Mugurungi, attributed the decrease to a raft of measures being implemented by Government, among them the successful rollout of the anti-retroviral programme.
Prior to the latest WHO guidelines on ART, that require treatment for people living with HIV to commence when CD4 count is at 500, Zimbabwe had managed to put 80 percent of people living with HIV on treatment.
Now about 65 percent of people living with the virus are on treatment.
“The number of people dying from HIV and Aids-related illnesses has been declining steadily. At the peak of the epidemic we were recording close to 3 000 deaths a week, but the figures have dramatically gone down by more than 50 percent.
“We attribute this to a strong and viable ART programme which has seen increased access to treatment. We have decentralised the ART programme and that has seen most health institutions in the country providing ARVs. Half of the country’s clinics are also providing ARVs, which translates to increased access to treatment,” he said.
Dr Mugurungi said the figures showed that the country was on track to achieving the 2030 target of zero deaths and zero new HIV infections.
“The figures show that we have taken the first few steps and we have made the initial steps towards that 15-year inspirational target. We have managed to reduce deaths by more than 50 percent which is a positive development. What we hope for is that by 2030 we would have reduced the deaths and infections to manageable and acceptable levels.
“We are also targeting to fight stigma associated with HIV such that by 2030 people will be talking freely about the virus without having to hide anything. Like I said, we are on track and we have made some remarkable achievements in that regard,” said Dr Mugurungi.
Zimbabwe is one of the few African countries which have adopted the 2013 World Health Organisation guidelines obliging countries to provide treatment to all HIV positive pregnant women, children, people infected with both HIV and TB as well as discordant couples.
The country has also seen a sharp rise in the number of people on anti-retroviral therapy over the past four years, with about 60 percent of people receiving HIV treatment being women, while the remaining 40 percent are men.
Statistics from the Ministry of Health and Child Care, show that as at December last year, 665 199 people were on ART nationwide, a huge leap from 363 261 that were recorded in 2010.
Harare Metropolitan Province tops the list of provinces with the highest number of ART beneficiaries, recording 150 358 people receiving ARVs, while the Midlands province which is ranked second with 76 511 ART recipients.
About 1,3 million people are living with HIV nationwide.
According to the recent Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey, only 36 percent of men and 57 percent of women have ever been tested and received an HIV test result.
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