HIV Prevalence Rate Stands at 14,26 Percent, Says NAC. 17/11/10
Zimbabwe's HIV/AIDS prevalence rate for the 15 to 49 years age group stands at 14,26 percent, not the reported 13,7 percent
By Paidamoyo Chipunza
17 November 2010
Kadoma — Zimbabwe's HIV and Aids prevalence rate for the 15 to 49 years age group stands at 14,26 percent, not the reported 13,7 percent, the National Aids Council has said.
Speaking at a three-day media training workshop here on Tuesday, NAC operations director Mr Raymond Yekeye said this followed further analysis of preliminary statistics from a team of monitoring and evaluation experts.
"The initial statistics were preliminary findings of the 2009 HIV and Aids estimates.
"However, further analysis was done which revealed that the actual prevalence rate for 2009 was 14,26 percent and the projected estimates for year ending 2010 is 13,7 percent," Mr Yekeye said.
He said new HIV infections have also decreased from nearly 66 000 last year to 61 000.
"We should now start looking at incidence instead of prevalence rates because the later is controversial with others attributing it to increased deaths of people, while incidences are the number of people being infected yearly," he said.
Mr Yekeye explained that when a country's anti-retroviral drug programme worked well, more people survived and thus HIV prevalence increased.
He said this did not necessarily mean the infection rate was increasing.
Mr Yekeye, however, pointed out: "We are cognisant of the fact that there are some areas where HIV prevalence is increasing and we need to double our efforts in our programming.
"This is a new trend that we are seeing among women visiting antenatal care and there is need for more research to validate the trend before we start programming."
He said areas where increased prevalence had been recorded included Murambinda, Sadza, Victoria Falls and Chiredzi.
However, other sites like Kadoma, Sakubva in Mutare and St Mary's in Chitungwiza have reported a drop in prevalence.
Zimbabwe's HIV and Aids prevalence rate has dropped from a high of 21 percent to the current 14,26 percent.
The major cause, experts say, is behaviour change and improved national responses to the pandemic.
To effectively respond to the national needs NAC's finance director, Mr Albert Manenji, proposed establishment of sustainable strategies to support national programmes, which are currently 70 percent donor-funded.