Staff Reporter
MARONDERA– In Mashonaland East province, the National Aids Council (NAC) is coordinating and implementing the Sister to Sister programme in Goromonzi district to combat new cases of sexually transmitted diseases.
The district has the highest number of Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) cases in the province, hence the strengthening of activities that are aimed at addressing the challenge.
NAC is currently implementing the Sister-to-Sister programme in Goromonzi. The District AIDS Coordinator (DAC) Graham Mafoko told Chaminuka that they are working hard to end new STI cases.
“We identified STI and AIDS hotspots and the key population that we must target as part of our interventions to address the challenge. As NAC, we are implementing various interventions that include the Sister-to-Sister programme. Our investigations indicate that there has been an increase in new cases of STIs especially at farms, mines and those that are involved in sex work.
“These are the key affected population. As NAC, we are working closely with the Ministry of Health and Child Care in the hotspot areas, basing on the demographic data that we have. We are intervening by providing mobile outreach services, engaging traditional leaders and community gatekeepers,” he said.
Mafoko said that they had sensitised the affected communities about this problem and the Goromonzi Rural District Council has been roped in to assist in disseminating STI information in the district.
He said: “As NAC we have what we call work place peer-led model that we are implementing in Goromonzi district targeting at least 20 mines and 20 work places. We have peer-led mentors who reside in these particular places and we trained them. They are our foot soldiers as they create demand for services in terms of HIV, STI screening and Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs).
“Every month, we conduct outreach programmes in all areas that we identified as hotspots. The Goromonzi RDC has been playing a pivotal role as it has been assisting us to disseminate key information in those areas that were identified as hotspots. The interventions are bearing fruits as we have been recording an increase in the uptake of servicers.”
In the ongoing outreach programmes, he added, the Ministry of Health and Child Care is providing medicines for STI treatment, PREP and PEP services.
NAC is also distributing condoms for free and instead of the affected populations going to the nearest health facility, it is bringing services to their doorsteps.
“Our interventions are bearing fruits because we are witnessing increased uptake of the services that we provide. We are doing our best to correct the myth and misconceptions around HIV/AIDS issues. People now have the knowledge and are eager to know their HIV status,” Mafoko said.
According to the Goromonzi DAC, there has been an increase in support group formation, with some of them now engaging in income generating projects for a living.
