Sources of HIV infections

Although Zimbabwean citizens have been bombarded with information regarding the HIV prevalence in the country, it is also imperative that the sources of HIV infections are highlighted out explicitly as well.

HIV transmission remains predominately sexually driven. Sexually transmitted accounts fro 80 percent of infections. Majority of news infections occur in the age group 20 - 29 years. New infections are expected to come from a variety of sources.

Source                                                                             % Contribution
Low risk heterosexual                                                         57.6%
Casual heterosexual                                                            7.5%
Partners of casual heterosexual                                           18.8%
Clients of heterosexual                                                        6.4%
Men who have sex with men (MSM)                                  4.0%
Male partners of MSM                                                        2.7%
Female partners of MSM                                                    0.4%
Sex workers                                                                        1.4%
Injecting Drug Users (IDU)                                                1.1%
Partners of UDI                                                                   0.1%
Medical Injections                                                               0.1%

In overall Zimbabwe is among the several countries in Southern Africa with a HIV epidemic showing a consistent decline in prevalence over the past decade. The decline is attributed to partially to successful implementation of prevention strategies such as changes in sexual behaviours and high mortality due to low ARV Therapy (ART) coverage.

Between 1999 and 20006 less than five percent of People Living with HIV (PLHIV) had access to ART.