Category: HIV/AIDS

Onward Gibson Announced As 2022 AVAC Fellow From Zimbabwe

Healthtimes

SEXUAL Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) advocate, Oward Gibson Chironda has together with other seven individuals and organisations been announced as a 2022 AVAC Advocacy Fellow. By Staff Reporter The 2022 AVAC Advocacy Fellows, marks the 12th class of the flagship Fellows Program. The group of eight advocates that have been selected for the 2022 program will participate in an 18-month program that supports their advocacy efforts, invests in the further development of their skills, shapes the agenda for HIV prevention research, and influences how quickly new interventions move into…

Read More

#BREAKING: South Africa Approves Dapivirine Vaginal Ring for Use by Women

Healthtimes

First long-acting HIV prevention product designed specifically for women Approval paves the way for the monthly ring’s introduction  Nearly two-thirds of new adult HIV infections in South Africa occur among women SILVER SPRING, Md. (March 11, 2022)—The nonprofit International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) today announced that the monthly dapivirine vaginal ring received regulatory approval from the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) for its use by women ages 18 and older to reduce their HIV risk. This marks a major milestone that brings the first long-acting and woman-controlled product…

Read More

PSH rolls out HIV treatment literacy campaign, coined ‘Flip the Script’

Healthtimes

Population Solutions for Health (PSH), formerly PSI Zimbabwe and the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC), launched “Flip the Script”, a campaign aimed at enhancing HIV treatment literacy and promoting adherence to ART (Antiretroviral Therapy) medication amongst PLHIV. By Patricia Mashiri The campaign is currently being implemented in three areas, namely, Nyabira in Zvimba district, Marange in Manicaland and Luveve in Bulawayo. PSH and the Ministry of Health & ChildCare introduced the campaign during meetings with community leaders including traditional and religious leaders; health care providers and influencers from…

Read More

Women and girls carry the heaviest HIV burden in sub-Saharan Africa

Michael Gwarisa

WOMEN and girls bear the biggest burden of HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa compared to their male counterparts. By Staff Reporter According to UNAIDS data, gender inequality and discrimination robs women and girls of their fundamental human rights, including the right to education, health and economic opportunities. The resulting disempowerment also denies women and girls sexual autonomy, decision-making power, dignity and safety. These impacts are most pronounced in sub-Saharan Africa, where adolescent girls and young women (aged 15 to 24 years) accounted for 25% of HIV infections in 2020, despite representing…

Read More

“Handisi Mu Departure Lounge!” Pioneer Of HIV/AIDS Anti-Discrimination Campaign Still Going Strong

Michael Gwarisa

SOME of you might still remember back in the day, around 2004 when a man, Pastor Reki Jimu would appear on a Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) Television sponsored program Positive Talk saying these words, “Handisi Mu Depature Lounge, ndiri kurarama ndiri HIV positive,” loosely translated, I am not in the departure lounge, I am just someone living positively with HIV. Those were the days AIDS claimed lives and accounted for majority of deaths in the country. There was no antiretroviral therapy (ART) back them. By Michael Gwarisa It is possible…

Read More

Health CSOs Consortium Sets New Priorities for COP22 PEPFAR funding cycle

Healthtimes

IN the Country Operational Plan for the year 2022 (COP22), Zimbabwe’s health civil society organisations under the Advocacy Core Team (ACT) banner are embedding new health advocacy points which now qualify for funding by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). By Staff Reporter Health civil societies came up with health priorities they felt left out in the previous funding cycles by PEPFAR, some of which after relaxation of range of priorities, now qualify. Speaking to this publication on the sidelines of the COP22 CSO priorities setting meeting last…

Read More

Four years of the Fast-Track cities project—what have we achieved and learned, and what is next?

Healthtimes

Implementation of the joint UNAIDS–International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC) Fast-Track cities project started in 2018 under the management of UNAIDS and IAPAC, with financial support from the United States Agency for International Development. Recognizing the important role that cities play in achieving national and global HIV targets and in ending AIDS by 2030, the project aims to provide essential and strategic technical support to 15 high-burden cities to accelerate their HIV responses. Own Correspondent The 15 cities (Blantyre, eThekwini, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Kampala, Kigali, Kingston, Kinshasa, Kyiv, Lagos,…

Read More

‘We Found Love In a Hopeless Place:’ The tale of a Young HIV Positive Zimbabwean Couple

Michael Gwarisa

THERE was once a very dark period in HIV and AIDS when an HIV diagnosis was equivalent to a death sentence. It was during those days when many lives both young and old, were lost to the ravenous AIDS pandemic owing to the absence of effective treatment regimens, stigma and discrimination against people with HIV, ignorance and negative attitudes from healthcare workers, among other factors. By Michael Gwarisa Throughout that period, finding love as an HIV positive person especially if your status was known to the public was a Sisyphean…

Read More

New HIV Super Variant: UNAIDS Calls For Increased HIV Treatment and Testing

Michael Gwarisa

THE Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has called for an urgent need to scale up HIV treatment and testing at a global level to ensure the newly discovered HIV sub-type does not spread to the level of crippling the global health system. By Michael Gwarisa A newly published research from the Netherlands revealed that the HIV variant is  a more transmissible and damaging variant and people living with the newly revealed HIV subtype experience double the rate of immune system decline (CD4 count) and have higher HIV viral…

Read More

New Highly Infectious HIV Variant That Progresses To AIDS Faster Discovered

Healthtimes

A newfound variant of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has been uncovered in the Netherlands and appears to cause faster disease progression compared with other versions of the virus. SOURCE: LIVESCIENCE The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infects and destroys immune cells called CD4 cells in the body, causing the number of these cells to plummet. If left untreated, the infection then progresses to AIDS. In people infected with the newfound HIV variant, called the VB variant, the CD4 counts fall at about twice the rate as those of people…

Read More