The National Aids Council (NAC) recently hosted a conference on HIV Research Symposium to deliberate on new data and development around the National HIV response.
By Ntokozo Gudu
The symposium was hosted in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) ,University of Zimbabwe(UZ), Centre for Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS (CeSHHAR) and BRTI as ran under the theme “Living and Ageing with HIV-Rethinking and Pioneering Interventions Towards Ending AIDS and Improving Quality of Life.”
The conference brought together multidisciplinary health practitioners including the private and public health sector.
Mr Raymond Yekeye who gave opening remarks on behalf of the NAC CEO Dr Bernard Madzima said 2022 statistics in Zimbabwe show that there are 272 000 people living with HIV aged 50 years and above.
Our focus obviously is particularly on the population of people living with HIV ,which are also 50 years and above and we know the population has continued to grow ,our statistics showing that they are around 272 000 people living with HIV who are over 50,” he said.
He also highlighted the importance of evidence in HIV research adding prioritization of programmes should be informed.
“The symposium is a platform to showcase our researches which will improve HIV programs and implementation,the annual HIV Research Symposium will also allow our findings to be subjected to scientific scrutiny before they can be used to inform policies and interventions,” Mr Yekeye added.
Ms Jane Kalweo, UNAIDS Country Director emphasized on the need to report for people who are ageing with HIV/AIDS.
“Older people face stigma because may not disclose their HIV status and seek treatment, reporting for people ageing with HIV/AIDS should be mandatory. The motto is leaving no one behind, they should not be left behind ageing with HIV should be celebrated,” she said.
Presenting a brief overview on the response, Mr Isaac Taramusi from UNAIDS highlighted on how more females are getting infected with HIV/AIDS.
“Most females are getting infected and dying ,of all adults on ART ,more than 6 in 10 are females, there is need to go back to the drawing board inorder to maintain the gains made so far as a country in ending HIV” he said.
