Category: HIV/AIDS

PEPFAR To Invest $2 Billion For Women and Girls Empowerment

Michael Gwarisa

THE United States Government (USG) announced that it will invest nearly $2 billion this year to advance gender equality by supporting millions of women and girls through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). “Through PEPFAR, the U.S. government is deeply committed to gender equality,” said Ambassador Deborah L. Birx, M.D., U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy. “We are putting resources and actions behind our words by investing nearly $2 billion this year to save and improve the lives of millions of women…

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Switzerland Boost Funding For AIDS, TB and Malaria

Michael Gwarisa

THE Swiss government is stepping up support for the fight against infectious diseases by contributing nearly CHF100 million ($102 million) to UN health agencies. By Michael Gwarisa The Federal Council on 21 August 2019 approved a contribution of CHF64 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) for the 2020–22 period and a further CHF30 million for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) for the 2019–21 period. Speaking to HealthTimes, The Swiss Embassy in Zimbabwe said the Global Fund was one of Switzerland’s…

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ARV Stock-outs: More People Miss Doses In Chipinge

Michael Gwarisa

CHIPINGE recorded the highest number of households with members who missed Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) doses since beginning of the year 2019 at the back of drug stock outs amongst a host of other factors. By Michael Gwarisa Medicines stock-outs as for the period under review stood at 28% and was reported as the major reason for people missing ART doses while failure to access  health facilities  was at 20.9%, inadequate transport money to travel to health facilities 10.4% and forgetting to take medication by  members living with HIV 10.4%. According…

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Pepfar partners Hpsl in HIV- AIDS campaign

Michael Gwarisa

THE United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Harare Professionals Soccer League (Hpsl) joined hands this week to launch the PEPFAR- Hpsl Test and Score Football Tournament. During the tournament, Pepfar partners will work with male professionals on HIV prevention, HIV testing and adherence to treatment. At PEPFAR, we are excited about this partnership and we will be monitoring progress as you play soccer and get to know more about smart decisions to protect yourself from acquiring HIV,” said Dr Ponesai Nyika, Public Health Specialist at…

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Paediatric HIV A Neglected Disease

Michael Gwarisa

THERE are currently 1.8 million children living with HIV in Sub Saharan Africa, while 180 000 new HIV infections are recorded among children every year.  52% of these children were receiving antiretroviral therapy in 2017. By Michael Gwarisa In Zimbabwe however the number of children on ARVs has declined owing to a decline in mother to child transmission of HIV according to data released by the National Aids Council (NAC) and UNAIDS which indicates that the number of children on ART decreased from 89% in 2017 to 65% in 2018.…

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PrEP Use High Among Young African Girls But Fades After Three Months- Study

Healthtimes

IN a study of open-label Truvada as daily pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV among 427 young African women and adolescent girls, 95% initiated the HIV prevention strategy, and most used PrEP for the first three months. However, PrEP use fell among participants in this critical population during a year of follow-up clinic visits, although HIV incidence at 12 months was low. The preliminary results suggest that tailored, evidence-based adherence support strategies may be needed to durably engage young African women in consistent PrEP use. The study, known as HPTN…

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Close Service Gaps To End HIV/AIDS Among Children and Adolescents: UNAIDS

Healthtimes

A new report released by UNAIDS today at the 10th IAS Conference on HIV Science in Mexico City, Mexico, shows that the world is lagging behind in its commitment to end the AIDS epidemic among children and adolescents. By Kudakwashe Pembere According to the report titled Start Free, Stay Free, AIDS Free the pace of progress in reducing new HIV infections among children and expanding access to treatment for children, adolescents and pregnant women living with HIV has slowed significantly. Further, global targets set for 2018 have been missed, despite…

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Parliament Petitioned Over ARV Shortages

Michael Gwarisa

PEOPLE Living With HIV (PLHIV) have handed over a petition to the Parliament of Zimbabwe in a bid to push government to urgently allocate financial resources to arrest the prevailing drug shortage before the situation goes out of hand. By Michael Gwarisa The development comes at the back of indications that the National Aids Council (NAC) is sitting on a cash pile of RTGS$20 million which they are failing to convert to United States (US) dollars needed to procure drugs from source markets. In an interview on the side-lines of…

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Is NAC On Autopilot?

Michael Gwarisa

IT’S been three months since Health and Child Care Minister, Dr Obadiah Moyo dismissed the whole National Aids Council (NAC) board over its failure to turn around fortunes of the organisation. By Michael Gwarisa Not only is NAC running without a board but the organisation has no substantive Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in place. Currently, Mr Raymond Yekeye the Operations Director has been CEO on an acting capacity  for the past six months now. As a news publication, we have made countless efforts to contact the Minster regarding the NAC…

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Lois Chingandu Joins Frontline AIDS

Michael Gwarisa

RENOWNED HIV and sexual reproductive health rights expert, Lois Chingandu has joined Frontline AIDS, a leading HIV and AIDS response organisation as its new Director of Evidence and Influence . By Michael Gwarisa Lois joins Frontline AIDS at a pivotal time for the organisation after serving at the helm of SAFAIDS Zimbabwe as Executive Director. The organisation, Frontline rebranded in February 2019 and is set to launch a new Global Plan of Action later this year and Lois together with her new team will play a central role in generating…

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