Zim makes impressive strides in PMTCT

Standard Style
Judith Dube* and her husband are a couple living with HIV. Their story is of patience, resilience and love, which has preserved their union despite their HIV-positive status.

Judith Dube* and her husband are a couple living with HIV. Their story is of patience, resilience and love, which has preserved their union despite their HIV-positive status.

social commentary with Moses Mugugunyeki

Expecting mothers at maternity waiting rooms at Chimhanda District Hospital in Rushinga, Mashonaland Central province

Leaving her marriage was the least of Dube’s considerations after discovering that she and her husband were HIV-positive. her husband acknowledges that his wife was their source of strength in their journey living with HIV.

It is easy to see how happy they are now from how they talk about each other, their children, the small business they run together and the experiences they have been through as a couple living with HIV.

The Standard Style recently caught up with Dube who lives in Village 11B, Donain in Mhondoro-Ngezi district some 60km outside Kadoma town. She spoke about her journey living with HIV.

“I only discovered that I was HIV-positive after I had visited the clinic for prenatal care for my first-born child,” said Dube.

“I shared the not-so-good news with my husband, who followed suit and went for HIV testing. He tested positive, but there was no need to pick up fights other than seeking counselling and treatment.”

Dube said from the treatment and counselling sessions that they had, they learnt that it was possible to give birth to an HIV-free baby if she followed the antiretroviral therapy religiously.

Dube is among many women in Zimbabwe who are benefiting from the country’s call to bring an end to new paediatric HIV infections as agreed upon at the International Aids Conference in 2016.

Countries attending the conference, the world’s largest forum devoted to any single health or development issue, agreed on the need for a global push to end paediatric Aids by 2020.

To achieve this goal, the United Nations Aids (UNAids) emphasised: “Prevention efforts will need to be matched by an equally robust effort to address the treatment needs of children living with HIV.”

The new global push comes at a time when children aged zero to 14 years, accounting for 5% of people living with HIV in 2015, represent 10% of all Aids-related deaths.

Half of all children who acquire HIV prenatally die by their second birthday unless they receive antiretroviral therapy, with peak mortality occurring at six to eight weeks of life.

In 2011, government made elimination of paediatric HIV and Aids a national goal and renewed commitment to decrease the rate of new HIV infections among children.

As a result, the government adopted the World Health Organisation antiretroviral therapy guidelines that recommended treatment for all to increase access to services in an effort to control the HIV epidemic by 2020 and end Aids by 2030.

Dube, just like other expecting women in Zimbabwe, is fortunate enough after the country underlined the need to virtually eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

“Elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV is being done through a cocktail of strategies, including scaling up point-of-care diagnostic tools for children, intensifying testing efforts for older children and strengthening of service delivery and patient monitoring for mothers and their infants, as well as expanding the array of child-appropriate antiretroviral medicines,” said National Aids Council district coordinator for Mhondoro-Ngezi Vakai Matutu.

Pregnant women receiving prenatal care in Zimbabwe were reported at 93,3% in 2015, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognised sources.

First lady Auxillia Mnangagwa speaking at the recent launch of the Free to Shine Campaign (Ending HIV and Aids in Children by 2030) in Harare said she would do everything possible and committed herself to end paediatric HIV and Aids by 2030.

“The launch of this campaign should spur us all to action as our government is committed to eliminating new HIV infections among children keeping their mothers healthy,” she said.

“I am indeed committed to this cause and will work tirelessly to support the Ministry of Health and Child Care in the pursuit of an HIV-free generation and access to treatment for children and adolescents living with HIV to keep them Aids-free.”

At least 1,4 million children are living with HIV in Africa south of the Sahara and this is over 50% of all children living with the virus globally. Every year, 150 000 children are newly infected with HIV globally.

Over the years, Zimbabwe has received tremendous support from a number of organisations, including the United States President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), United Nations Population Fund and Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation, among others.

Pepfar, which last year supported HIV testing and counselling for more than 11,2 million pregnant women globally, is assisting the Health and Child Care ministry in Zimbabwe to reach treatment saturation by the end of this year.

On the other hand, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation believes that Zimbabwe is on track to be one of the first nations in sub-Saharan Africa to virtually eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

“This is a remarkable feat, considering that, as of 2009, Zimbabwe had one of the highest burdens of new HIV infections in the world and was experiencing a mother-to-child HIV transmission rate of approximately 30%,” the organisation said.

Zimbabwe’s effort to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV supports the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relating to health (SDG 3) has a target to end the Aids epidemic by 2030. *Not her real name