A focus on HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe

With only months before the MDG targets have been met, it is imperative to find out what is going on around the country as far as meeting the targets is concerned. Most people are particularly interested as to knowing how much an effort has Zimbabwe done in ensuring that the country meets the MDG that focuses on the HIV/AIDS combat. 

For the past two days, the country has been hard hit by shocking headlines. These headlines were centered on HIV/AIDS and STI prevalence in the country. The first article was about Harare recording 15 000 STI cases while the other story dwelled more on ARV therapy in Bulawayo. Harare and Bulawayo are major cities in Zimbabwe and such statistics grabbed a lot of attention, positive and negative. 

A sample of ARV drugs coutersy of zimeye.org

The first story mentioned that the STI cases in Harare had increased from 14 000 in the first half of 2013 to 15 000 in the last quarter. In the story,there were concerns that the shocking statistics could be an indication that condoms distributed in the province were not adequately used correctly and time and again.

While the second story revealed that over 30 000 patients are using ARV’s across 16 Bulawayo City Council (BCC) clinics in the city. Below are the figures according to Newsday

Clinic	Number of patients on ARVs	Recorded deaths
Nketa Clinic	3 257	632
Njube Clinic	770	4
Pelandaba Clinic	3 082	135
Luveve Clinic	2 925	244
Northern Suburbs Clinic	1 811	68
Nkulumane Clinic	3 317	206
Entumbane Clinic	1 564	153
Mzilikazi Clinic	2 575	101
Magwegwe Clinic	2 264	235
Tshabalala Clinic	851	6
Pumula Clinic	3 157	63
Khami Road Clinic	1 715	493
Emakhandeni Clinic	2 001	257
Maqhawe Clinic	1 105	31
Pumula South Clinic	370	0
EF Watson Clinic	261	0

In a survey that I carried out earlier on, most people I spoke to expressed concern on the two articles especially on the story that mentioned that close to 30 000 people in Bulawayo are on ARV therapy. Most of them expressed shock of the fact that Nketa suburb recorded the highest.

“I am extremely shocked that there are more than 3 000 people who are HIV+ in Nketa. Who ever thought that the suburb I stay in was drowning in such figures,” said Sibhekisiwe Moyo (25).

There were other Nketa residents I spoke to who found nothing amazing about the recently released figures.

“Such figures could simply reflect the number of people that visit the clinic only. People from Nkulumane, Emganwini, Tshabalala and other suburbs scattered around Bulawayo could be part of the patients talked about here. They could be one of the 3 000 that go to Nketa Clinic for treatment,” said Michael Sibanda (32).

I must say that I was saddened by the way this story was carried out. The figures were collectively recorded since 2004. A decade ago. I wonder why the reporter did not also mention last year’s statistics in the story as well. Now the insinuation is that Bulawayo is crawling with HIV/AIDS infected people which could not be the absolute truth. What if the 30 000 mentioned in the article has a majority of dead people? 

Going forward, ways of finding solutions should be of primary concern in ensuring that Zimbabwe arrives to an HIV free generation.

Let’s keep the promise!