Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Peter Matambanadzo
22 November 2007
Harare — Zimbabwe leads Sadc in reducing the prevalence and incidence of HIV, despite illegal sanctions and the withdrawal of Western aid, the regional body said yesterday.
Sadc yesterday commended Zimbabwe for coming up with effective health intervention policies that have seen a sharp decline in HIV prevalence from 18,1 percent of 15 to 49-year-olds to 15,6 percent within four years, despite prevailing economic challenges, and has blasted international donor agencies such as the Global Fund for denying Zimbabwe help.
Sadc's head of HIV and Aids secretariat Dr Antonica Hembe yesterday said the Zimbabwe Government managed to keep its intervention programmes vibrant and effective, more than any other country in the region. She was giving an overview of the region's progress and achievements in fighting the pandemic at the official opening of a meeting for ministers of health here yesterday.
"The region has made significant progress in fighting the epidemic, but leading in the area is Zimbabwe, which has recorded declines in both prevalence and incidence," Dr Hembe said. The lower rate was a reflection of the unrelenting campaign by the Government and other stakeholders to raise awareness of the dangers of HIV and take active steps to reduce the risk of infection.
Mauritius, South Africa, Swaziland, Namibia and Botswana are believed to have the highest figures of prevalence and incidence despite their strong economic performance while Zimbabwe - facing illegal economic sanctions and donor withdrawal -- has managed to record a significant decrease in both. With an 85 percent penetration rate, Dr Hembe said Botswana was the leader in providing anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs to its nationals.
"Botswana leads in the ARV distribution and access to the population," she said. While efforts have been doubled by member states in the establishment of national Aids co-ordination institutions, resource mobilisation remained a major challenge. "Significant progress has been made since 2006, which was declared a year for accelerating access to HIV prevention.
"Condom use has increased among youths but they still engage in high risk practices. The majority of young people are delaying sexual debut while between 57,4 percent and 99,7 percent of people 15-49 years are now living with HIV," she said. She said HIV and Aids should be viewed by Sadc ministers as no longer a health problem, but as a security, peace and stability threat.
Speaking at the same meeting, chairman and Zambia's Minister of Health Dr Brian Chituwa said the decline in the HIV prevalence was a major milestone and Sadc states should continue working closely to reduce the impact of the pandemic. "We are making a milestone achievement and we shall be considering together on how things must be done. This is our objective to see the disease being eradicated," Dr Chituwa said. Zimbabwe's Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr David Parirenyatwa, attributed the decline in HIV and Aids to the Government's commitment to the complete eradication of the disease with emphasis on prevention.
"We have had a marked decline in HIV and Aids and our emphasis is on prevention, prevention and prevention," Dr Parirenyatwa said. An estimated 1 320 739 people are living with HIV and Aids, 651 402 of them women and 132 938 being children under 14 years of age who probably contracted the virus at birth. According to the latest statistics, one in seven Zimbabweans is HIV positive, a sharp drop from the previous ratio of one in four when infection rates reached their peak in the 1990s. Dr Parirenyatwa also invited the delegates to witness the launch of the Sadc Malaria Week by President Mugabe tomorrow in Lukunguni, about 50km from Victoria Falls.
He said the area had been chosen as the venue because of the high prevalence of malaria and wanted the ministers and ambassadors to witness demonstrations on the use of mosquito nets and residual indoor sprays. Sadc blasted the Global Fund for denying some countries such as Zimbabwe their grants to fight against malaria, tuberculosis and the deadly HIV and Aids pandemic on political grounds.
In an interview on the sidelines of the ongoing Sadc health ministers meeting in Victoria Falls, Malawi's Minister of Health Dr Majoria Ngaunje said health issues were apolitical and the Global Fund should use the pool of resources to benefit all deserving countries. "Global Fund is a pool of resources set up to help countries which do not have enough resources on health and should not be political. We urge the Global Fund to be apolitical and start helping people without regard to creed, colour or race," Dr Ngaunje said.
She said it was unfortunate that Zimbabwe has been denied its right to access funds from the organisation on political grounds. "It's unfortunate that Zimbabwe has failed to get its share just like Malawi at times had its request rejected by the Global Fund," she said, adding that the country has made noise on the unfair treatment. She added that Malawi had been denied its allocation on the sixth round affecting the country's targeted programmes. She urged the region to foster relations and work together in finding ways to achieve self-reliance rather than to wait for donor funding in fighting HIV and Aids.
"We need to look into the area of sustainability and look at ways and means of preventing new HIV and Aids infections in the region. We can come up with better solutions as we share the same culture and have similar diseases affecting our people," she said. Dr Ngaunje said Malawi had also made great strides in tackling HIV and Aids through voluntary counselling and testing. Dr Chitawu echoed the same sentiments saying the organisation should fulfil its mandate to support developing countries. "For sustainable development we should do something for our own and in this political world you cannot solely depend on partners," he said.
He added that the two-day meeting of ministers would be looking at how best the block can find harmonisation and support implementation of policies and guidelines in fighting the deadly HIV and Aids and also developing health delivery systems. The meeting, which started yesterday, is expected to deliberate on the impact of HIV and Aids on the region and on the Abuja Declaration which spells out what member states are required to do to address the HIV and Aids pandemic.
Among other issues, the meeting will also look at mechanisms of implementing the declaration and also discuss the Sadc Strategic Action Plan. Dr Parirenyatwa also said although Zimbabwe has been denied funding it has been able to make significant strides in fighting diseases and improving its health systems through help from other partners who continue to fund the country.
"We were denied the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth round. We only benefited in the seventh round and this is minimal support we are getting from outside the country," Dr Parirenyatwa said. He said, however, the country was getting help from Department for International Development and USAID and was also relying on funds from the Aids Levy and the fiscus to tackle the HIV and Aids pandemic and other communicable and non-communicable diseases. In August this year Zimbabwe only received US$7 million from the Global Fund to finance health programmes.
The country was also receiving at least US$14 per person for HIV and Aids response, compared to the US$240 per person allocated to other countries within the region.
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