NAC Calls For Collective Action To Sustain HIV Gains

By Andile Vundla

The National AIDS Council (NAC) has called for greater community involvement in the fight against HIV and AIDS, warning that Zimbabwe cannot rely solely on external partners to sustain gains made towards ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

NAC Bulawayo Provincial Manager Mrs Sinatra Nyathi stated that individuals, families, churches, workplaces, schools and the media all have a role to play in strengthening HIV prevention and ensuring people living with HIV adhere to treatment.

Nyathi said the changing funding environment has increased pressure on HIV programmes, making prevention and community participation even more important.

She said that the focus should now return to basic HIV education, including how the virus is transmitted and prevented.

“At this moment we want to go back to the basics, where we need to give people basic information about HIV, how it is transmitted and how we can prevent it,” said Nyathi.

She highlighted that the Anti-retroviral therapy (ARVs) has improved the quality of life for people living with HIV but does not cure the virus, while poor adherence can contribute to treatment resistance and the need for more expensive treatment regimens.

Nyathi further urged people to take greater responsibility for HIV prevention, including consistent condom use, saying communities should not assume that prevention programmes will always be fully supported by external partners.

“We really need to teach our communities to take responsible actions in order to stop HIV at personal level, atppp family level, at community level and basically at national level,” she said.

Her remarks come as Zimbabwe faces a changing HIV financing environment, with international funding under pressure globally. UNAIDS has warned that reduced international HIV funding risks undermining progress unless countries strengthen domestic responses and adapt their programmes.

NAC said the response must therefore increasingly focus on sustainability while protecting the gains already made.

NAC’s latest published figures show Zimbabwe has exceeded the 95-95-95 targets among the overall population, with 97 percent of people living with HIV knowing their status, 98 percent on treatment and 96 percent virally suppressed.

However, NAC programmes officer for Bulawayo Mr Douglas Moyo said that those gains will be difficult to sustain if people do not adhere to treatment or communities fail to address new HIV infections and other factors that increase vulnerability.

Mr Moyo said treatment adherence is particularly important because treatment failure can result in patients moving to more advanced and costly regimens at a time when resources are constrained.

“We need to make people aware of the impact. If people get there, switch to the next level of treatment, it costs a lot of resources, which we don’t have now. We are already constrained as a country,” he said.

Mr Moyo also raised concern over sexually transmitted infections, drug and substance abuse and risks facing young people, calling for stronger interventions at family and community level.

He said the HIV response should move beyond awareness campaigns and focus more on changing behaviour.

NAC highlighted that preventing new infections, supporting treatment adherence and addressing emerging social risks will require coordinated action across communities if Zimbabwe is to maintain its progress and achieve its 2030 target.