By Michael Gwarisa
As of October 1, 2023, the Zimbabwe Technical Assistance, Training and Education Centre (Zim-TTECH) is now the prime recipient of three PEPFAR grants, through the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) which will scale up HIV and Tuberculosis Treatment and Care in Zimbabwean communities.
The three grants include the Care and Treatment grant, the DREAMS grant and the Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) grant.
Speaking to HealthTimes at the ICASA conference, Zim-TTECH Demand Creation and Training Advisor, Abisha Jonga said they aim to capacitate communities in the HIV response and ensure Zimbabwe attains its 95-95-95 targets.
“As you are aware, we are a partner of the Ministry of Health and Child Care funded by PEPFAR through the CDC. The first Grant is the Care and Treatment Grant where we work on everything related to HIV from testing through intuiting clients who test positive through prevention programs for those that test negative and providing support for those who are already on ARVs through the provision of resupplies.
“We are working in 20 districts which are direct service delivery districts and we help provinces with Human Resources for Health support. We have nurses seconded to those facilities and we have community health workers seconded in those facilities. In total, we operating in 400 health facilities across the five provinces and 20 Districts,” said Jonga.
Zim-TTECH also provides technical assistance to an additional 11 districts that are not directly supported. The care and treatment program falls under a consortium known as ZIMPAC which stands for Zimbabwe Partnering to Accelerate AIDS Control.
The consortium is made up of five local partners with ZimTTECH being the managing partner. It also has Zvandiri which focuses on children and adolescents up to the age of 24 while PADARE mobilises men to change attitudes in health-seeking behaviour and support the elimination of violence against women.
PZAT focuses on working with marginalised communities and key populations. The ZNNP+ coordinates community work and treatment literacy among PLHIV.
The second grant ZimTTECH is managing is the DREAMS Grant and it works towards supporting the prevention of HIV transmission to adolescent girls and young women. The program has been operating in four districts of Matabeleland North but this year starting October 1, it has been expanded further into the Seke district.
“The third program is the Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) program. It is a separate grant and it operates under a different consortium known as the ZAZI consortium which has ZImTech, ZACH, and ZICHIRE.”
Meanwhile, Zim-TTECH has a fourth grant, the Electronic Health Records (EHR) which is now in its second year and covers the 10 provinces of the countries.
“We aim to ensure that the issue of using paper-based registers becomes a thing of the past. The MoHCC is working on EHR with our support so that every client who visits the health facility is captured digitally and for ease of reporting.”
Zim-TTECH was the recipient of the five-year PEPFAR award[1]Strengthening Epidemiology and Strategic Information grant through the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
The award officially begins on 30th September 2022 The award is being implemented through the “Impilo” Electronic Health Record (EHR)/CBS program.
The program aims to build the Ministry of Health and Child Care’s (MOHCC) capacity at the national, provincial, and district levels to collect key strategic information (SI) required to measure progress towards achieving epidemic control and generate a strong evidence base for informed program decision-making in Zimbabwe.
Zim-TTECH envisions universal access to safe, client-centered, and high-quality healthcare for all people while working to improve the health and well-being for all through the provision of technical assistance and direct service to the health sector, as well as strengthening healthcare worker skills to support the sustainability of health.
