By Staff Reporter
MINISTRY of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) has commissioned the Rimuka Integrated TB/HIV Care Centre that was renovated at a cost of US$30 000.
The integrated health care centre which is owned by the Kadoma City Council handles approximately 6000 people every month.
In a speech read on his behalf by Deputy Minister Aldrin Masiiwa last Friday, Minister of Health and Child Care Dr David Parirenyatwa applauded the city council for the noble initiative.
“I am told that this health Care centre were once Council offices but the Council saw it fit to convert it into a health facility in line with the government’s goal which focuses on good health and well being,” he said.
The Minister also took the opportunity to call upon Kadoma residents to cherish and make good use of the centre which offers HIV Counseling and testing, TB screening and ART initiation and monitoring among other services.
According to Kadoma Mayor, Councillor Muchineripi Chinyanganya, Kadoma has about 103 000 people as recorded in the 2012 census and of that number about 12 000 are living with HIV/AIDS.
Mayor Chinyanganya said about 8000 people living with HIV/AIDS are getting services at the city council’s facilities, where the US$30 000 Rimuka Integrated TB/HIV Health Care centre is handling 6000 people every month.
Zimbabwe and various developmental partners are employing various initiatives in response to HIV/AIDS and its effects to communities and the country at large.
Some of the initiatives include free distribution of HIV drugs and testing at various institutions, free distribution of condoms in both public and private institutions around the country and circumcisions services.
Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) executive director Dr Munyaradzi Murwira a few weeks ago told a Family Planning Symposium that his organisation distributes about 80 million male condoms and 4 million female condoms per year on top of other family planning methods available in the country.
Last year UNFPA went around the country with its Condomise Campaign as a way of raising awareness of the available methods and use of protection against sexually transmitted diseases.
Government and its partners are also working tirelessly in the area of Prevention of Mothers to Child Transmission (PMTCT) using various health institutions around the country.
