Author: Kuda Pembere

By Kudakwashe Pembere African governments must address the emerging saddening trends of advanced HIV where people are still dying due to lack of diagnostics and data driven policies. Addressing the media during a plenary press conference on Advanced HIV, HEPS Uganda Executive Director Mr Kenneth Mwehonge said apart from TB being a comorbidity killing people living with HIV, Cryptococcal meningitis is a threat that needs to be nipped. “One, I wanted to start with the number of dead, and it’s very, very sad that we have 30 million people on…

By Kuda Pembere and Michael Gwarisa The 22nd edition of the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) ended on Saturday with calls to step up support for communities of people living with HIV for the elimination of the pandemic by 2030 being made. Speaking on behalf of Zimbabwe’s Vice President Dr Constantine Chiwenga, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Fredrick Shava said it was important to put communities at the fore in HIV responses. “I am particularly encouraged by the emphasis placed on strengthening community engagement and…

By Kuda Pembere MPILO Hospital AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) Centre of Excellence medical doctor Dr Nkazimulo Tshumo’s research on causes and clinical determinants of deaths among people living with HIV at her hospital earned her a Track B award for the best abstract. Her research, an analysis of Causes and Clinical Determinants of Mortality among People Living with HIV at Mpilo Centre of Excellence in Bulawayo, in Zimbabwe won the Track B focusing on Clinical Science, Treatment and Care. She said the majority of deaths at her facility were people…

By Kuda Pembere Dr Clorata Gwanzura, a government medical doctor working with the National HIV Program, Care and Treatment was conferred an award for the best oral presentation for the ICASA track E which focused on innovations and research settings. In an interview, Dr Gwanzura said her research was focusing on monitoring and evaluation systems fofr Differentiated Dervice Delivery for ART in Zimbabwe which are models Zimbabwe use to give people living with HIV their medication. These models have been effective in improving HIV treatment coverage in the country. “So…

Dr. Tadesse T. Mekonen Executive: Clinical Research and Development, Avacare Health Group This paper examines the transformative developments in HIV therapy, focusing on the evolution of anti-retroviral agents (ARVs) over the past four decades. It particularly highlights the transition from Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate (TDF) to Tenofovir Alafenamide Fumarate (TAF) in the context of enhanced safety benefits. Since the initial identification of HIV as a global health crisis, considerable progress has been made in the realm of ARVs. The primary goal of these therapeutic agents is to suppress viral replication, thus…

By Michael Gwarisa The Minister of Health and Child Care (MoHCC), Dr Douglas Mombeshora says more than 87 percent of children in Zimbabwe are now on child-friendly Dolutegravir (DTG) based formulations. His remarks follow indications that children in Zimbabwe were lagging regarding treatment coverage and data from 2022 shows that only 69 percent of children living with HIV were on Antiretroviral Treatment compared to 95 percent of adults on ART. Speaking during a panel session of Accelerating the Implementation of the Global Alliance Country Action Plan to End AIDS in…

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…

By Michael Gwarisa More than 91 million Africans live with Hepatitis B or C, which are the deadliest strains of the virus, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) scorecard that was launched in 2021. The Viral Hepatitis Scorecard 2021 which looked at data from the African region but focused on Hepatitis B and C, both of which cause liver cirrhosis and cancer showed that in 19 countries, more than 8 percent of the population is infected with Hepatitis B, while in 18 countries, more than 1 percent of the…