Tag: DAC

One Stop Centres as Key Accelerators Towards Zimbabwe’s Progress To End AIDS By 2030

Michael Gwarisa

Women and girls who experience Gender Based Violence (GBV) are at high risk of contracting HIV. According to UN Women, GBV is a risk factor for HIV infection, and a consequence of stigma. Addressing violence and gender inequality is therefore essential to ending the AIDS epidemic and protecting the human rights of all people to safety, equality and the highest attainable standard of health. By Michael Gwarisa For Roselyn Magaso* 24, from Ngangu, Chimanimani, having been married at the age of 16, she experienced all forms of abuse at the…

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SET A THIEF TO CATCH A THIEF: How AWET Health interventions have reduced home deliveries Among Apostolic Women and Girls in Shurugwi

Michael Gwarisa

Caroline Ngosha (23), from Shurugwi is expecting her third child in a few months’ time. In both her previous pregnancies, she delivered her children at home in line with the dictates of her religion, a white garment apostolic sect. Some apostolic sects in Zimbabwe do not allow their followers to use family planning or contraception methods. Neither do they sanction female followers to register with the Anti Natal Clinic (ANC), later on deliver in a health institution. By Michael Gwarisa in Shurugwi She remembers vividly how life threatening giving birth…

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Hitting Three Birds with One Stone: Low Cost Boarding Facilities to Address Teen Pregnancies, Early Marriages and New HIV Infections in Chimanimani Adolescent Girls

Michael Gwarisa

HILDER Muwani* (16) is doing Form 3 at Mhakwe Secondary school in Chimanimani. Every day, she walks 30 kilometers to and from school. She at some point contemplated moving to a bush boarding or renting a room near the school just to cut on the distance, but her parents would have none of it. They feared she would mix with the wrong crowd, fall pregnant and end up dropping out of school as has become the fate of many girls in Chimanimani. By Michael Gwarisa recently in Chimanimani The risk…

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Door To Door ARV Distribution Model Draws Makoni District Closer To Attaining Third 95

Michael Gwarisa

THE Community Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) Treatment Facilitator (CATCF) model, a new ART collection and delivery program, has greatly enhanced HIV treatment adherence through offering door to door delivery of medications to ART clients in Makoni District. By Michael Gwarisa in Makoni District Across Zimbabwe, the CATCF model is currently being implemented only in seven health facilities in Makoni District. These are St Therese Hospital, Matsika Clinic, Masvosva Clinic, Chiduku Clinic, Chinyadza Clinic and Tatseka Clinic. Briefing Journalists during a media tour at St Therese Hospital in Makoni District in Manicaland…

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DREAMS Program Reignites Hope In Rushinga Girls

Michael Gwarisa

AT the age of 11, Patience Chikozomba from Mukwatsa village and a primary school pupil at Magaranhewe Primary school in Rushinga  was already thinking of dropping out of school since her parents couldn’t  afford school fees for her and her siblings. Other girls her age or slightly older have already eloped or been married off due to the biting poverty obtaining in the area despite it being a resource rich community. By Michael Gwarisa in Rushinga According to the National Aids Council (NAC), even though there are starting to witness…

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NAC/UNICEF Collaborate To Integrate WASH and HIV Programs For Positive Health Outcomes In Sanyati

Michael Gwarisa

IN a bid to reduce diarrhoeal induced morbidity and mortality amongst People Living with HIV (PLHIV) as well as influence behavior change, the National AIDS Council (NAC) has partnered the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNCEF) and the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) to integrate HIV and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programs in Sanyati districts.   By Michael Gwarisa recently in Sanyati A study conducted by the Anglo-American Group foundation indicate that Diarrhoea remains a very common disease affecting about 90% of people living with HIV in Southern Africa,…

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Drug Resistant Gonorrhea Stalks Zimbabwe- NAC

Michael Gwarisa

A rare type of Gonorrhea  which is most prevalent in South Africa has found its way into  Zimbabwe  at the back increased cross boarder activity and inter country travel by Zimbabweans, a top National Aids Council (NAC) official has said. By Michael Gwarisa Speaking during an Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (EMTC) workshop in Harare, NAC’s District Aids Coordinator (DAC) for Harare, Mrs Agnes Dembedza said even though Zimbabweans was doing well in terms of managing HIV infections, more Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) were still being recorded.…

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MSF Pilots New ART Dispensing Model In Mwenezi

NewsRoom

MEDECINS Sans Frontiers in Zimbabwe (MSF), has launched a new system of administering Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) drugs in Mwenezi, Masvingo in a bid to increase ART adherence, amidst indications that many ART clients were now defaulting on their medications due to the long distance and inaccessibility of health facilities. By Michael Gwarisa recently in Sovelela, Mwenezi The new ART administering method dubbed Out of Facility Community ART Distribution (OFCAD),  is an outreach strategy whereby patients no longer need to visit a health care facility to access ART but rather the…

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NAC Installs Condom Dispensers In Masvingo HIV Hotspots

NewsRoom

THE National Aids Council (NAC) has rolled an extensive condom distribution drive in most HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) hotspots in Masvingo in a bid to reduce the high HIV burden in the province. By Michael Gwarisa in Masvingo province The initiative comes at the back of indications that the province is lagging behind in terms of condom uptake and usage making it difficult for programmers to realise meaningful results from their efforts as new cases of HIV and STIs are constantly increasing. According to NAC statistics, HIV prevalence…

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