Govt expects to receive $145m from PEPFAR

GOVERNMENT is this year expected to receive $145 million from the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) for HIV and TB prevention and treatment, support and transition.

Speaking at the PEPFAR Cop19 community HIV priorities identification consultative meeting in Mutare last week, Advocacy Core Team co-chairperson Mr Chamunorwa Mashoko said the fund is aimed at enhancing prevention of HIV, TB and close gap for new infections.

Mr Mashoko said their aim was to identify those who remain undiagnosed while living with HIV and get them into treatment.

Our goal is to achieve 70 percent local implementation by 2020, he said.

To sustain epidemic control, it is critical that the full range of HIV prevention and prevention services are owned and operated by local institutions.

Zimbabwe should meet requirements needed to increase domestic funding for HIV prevention.

We are also enhancing prevention of HIV and TB mainly focusing on young men who does not have access to HIV services and those in hard to reach places.

He said according to Zimbabwe Population based HIV Impact Assessment report young women have three times higher HIV prevalence than young men.

Mr Mashoko said men ranging from 45 to 65 years have two times higher HIV prevalence than women in the 45 to 65 years age group.

He said they were also targeting undiagnosed People Living with HIV and Aids in each district by age, sex and retention strategies.

ACT co-chairperson and Jointed Hands Welfare Organisation executive director, Mr Donald Tobaiwa, said: Significant progress has been achieved in reaching the general population of PLHIV.

The universal access to treatment has been rolled out to all facilities with health care providers adapting client centred models of care to ensure that the diverse treatment needs of all people living with HIV are met.

In particular, we need to reach out to younger women and men who may not yet know their HIV status and the risk of transmission.

Ensuring all ages and risk groups have the same equitable access to prevention and treatment services.

We support integration of women’s health services into HIV care and are working with countries to increase contraceptive options.

Mr Tobaiwa said they were working on implementation of district specific strategies to increase service uptake and quality in 24 districts across five provinces.

On going advocacy technical and financial support and improved access to life saving anti-retroviral treatment have made this possible and keeping the momentum on enhancing prevention and ensuring the right to health for all, he said.