Zimbabwe has come a long way in its fight against HIV and Aids. The country continues to score successes in terms of meeting its goals towards eradicating Aids as a public health emergency by the year 2030. While the positive strides are quite commendable, there should be no room for complacency especially now that the country has met its targets to test, treat and achieve viral suppression.
We believe while policymakers dwell on the targets and the plans to achieve those targets, the generality of the population needs to focus on what needs to be done practically to ensure the plans achieve the desired results. The first step is that we all need to know our HIV status. That is done through testing for HIV. One cannot move to the next step of treatment before testing, and that shows the importance of that first major step.
It is quite worrying that there are many people who still dread going for testing for HIV or many others, especially men, who infer their status from their partners’ test results. It should not be so. Let us all get tested. There are over a million Zimbabweans on anti-retroviral treatment and many of them are living normal lives with their viral load suppressed.
We need to accept the results of the tests, whether positive or negative and they should assist us plan our lives. For those that test positive, treatment is now readily available to suppress the virus to even undetectable levels, hence the importance of testing early so that one’s health is not badly affected. Those that get negative test results should also take it as an opportunity to ensure that they protect themselves from possible infection. Condoms are one of the methods that have been proven to be effective against the transmission of HIV, and we urge our people to use them and use them consistently and correctly.
After the tests also, those that test positive need to take on a positive outlook on life, and not live in denial or self-stigma. This is very important because there are instances of some that begin their treatment and later on default due to various reasons. It is important to make that life-long commitment to stick to the treatment regime so that you prolong your life. As we pointed out earlier, Zimbabwe and indeed the rest of the world have come a long way from the days when there were not even enough testing and treatment options.
Let us embrace the measures put in place by the Government and its partners to push back infections and meet our target for 2030. When our people live longer and more fulfilling lives due to treatment, even our economy benefits as a healthy population can only contribute towards a healthy economy.
