Progress towards an HIV free community underway
By Letwin Mazarura
Vice President and Minister of Health, Dr Chiwenga intimated that Zimbabwe is committed to improving the lives of people living wIth HIV AIDS and other infectious diseases in a bid to eliminate mother-to-child transmission.
“My ministry is an early adopter of innovations that improve the quality of lives for people living with HIV and I’m happy to note that Zimbabwe is a forerunner in the region with regards to introduction of child-friendly formulations for anti-retrovirals for treatment for HIV positive children,”said VP Chiwenga.
At a third quarter virtual meeting of the National Validation Committee meeting attended by dignitaries from UNICEF and the WHO, Chiwenga revealed that great efforts continued to be made in the rolling out of the electronic health record data system that provides accurate data on mother-baby pairs through the continuum of care.
This includes the tracking of HIV exposed infants at the end of the breastfeeding period.
According to Chiwenga, Zimbabwe has developed a plan for the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis covering the years 2018-2022 with the goal to attain top results on the path to elimination as per WHO criteria for validation
“I am pleased to inform you that we are making good progress in several areas, notably the rollout of dual testing kits for both HIV and syphilis is on course, with training of how to use the kits having commenced in this quarter”.
The biggest challenge that the Ministry of Health is facing is the negative impact of Covid-19 on provision of essential services.
However he urged the ministry to push the agenda forward by actively engaging communities and women living with HIV while respecting their rights.
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