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for both successful love relationships and the prevention of HIV and Aids.
In fact, lack of love and respect fuel the spread of HIV, with mainly women at the receiving end.
Zimbabwe could finally be turning a corner.

Last week the country celebrated hitting the 500 000 mark of people who completed the Love and Respect HIV prevention course, which ran under the National Behavioural Change (NBC) strategy developed in 2006.
The celebrations which were attended by hundreds of people were held at St Jude’s Primary School in Zhombe.
The NBC strategy offers guidance on what actions can be taken to promote and sustain safe sexual behaviours.

It also enables the country to focus key drivers of HIV in Zimbabwe.
The National Aids Council also tasked UNFPA to co-ordinate implementation of the programme.
Minister of Health and Child Welfare Dr Henry Madzorera says the completion of the training of the 500 000 people is of great significance as since 1985 when the first case of HIV was reported, the country has always prioritised prevention as in the national response.

He adds that the effects of HIV have been felt at every level and currently three-quarters of hospital beds are occupied by people with HIV-related illnesses.
“The current economic recession calls upon people to even take HIV prevention efforts seriously since we cannot afford to let people get infected and then put them on ARVs. After all, it costs nothing to be faithful.

“The development of the National Behaviour Change Strategy in 2006 signified a very important milestone in the prevention of HIV in this country.
“The BC strategy enabled the country to focus on key drivers of HIV,” he said.
He explained that the programme was implemented in the systematic manner to ensure effective monitoring and evaluation.

“The BC programme has been extensively implemented in the 26 districts with the support of ESP partners and EC.
“A mid-term evaluation of the BC strategy has shown that there is considerable differences in focus districts and non-focus districts thereby showing the effectiveness of the model,” he explained.
He applauded the role played by the eight BC implementers, namely the Expanded Support Programme (ESP) which is a consortium of donors including DfID, Irish Aid

Norway, Cida Canada, Sida Swedish from 2007 to 2009.
From 2009 to 2010 the programme also received funding from the Global Fund which supported 35 districts, UNFPA through the provision of vehicles and motorbikes.
“These organisations have managed to put HIV prevention agenda in communities. We strongly believe that these efforts will yield positive results as we approach 2015.

Previously, a lot of unnecessary energy was spent on finding out the origin of HIV.
“What we need to prioritise now is prevention of new infections since we know how to prevent HIV and no person should be infected this day and age.
“Very soon, we will be commemorating the World Aids Day whose theme is ‘Getting to Zero’. We can achieve zero infections if we prioritise HIV prevention efforts,” he said.

Dr Madzorera described the 500 000 community course completion celebration as a true reflection of the seriousness that the country places on HIV prevention.
UNFPA behaviour change programme analyst Mrs Priscilla Mujuru said district and community level implementation has been the major focus of the behaviour change programme.

He said in the 62 districts, following the participatory development of a district BC action plan, several activities were conducted at community level, which are now being implemented in each district.
These activities include advocacy with community (ward) level leadership on behavioural prevention issues and underlying social relations, development of community ward level BC action plans; training of traditional, religious and other leaders in BC promotion and as advocates and role models.

She said mainstreaming of BC promotion into existing district events and organising of BC promotional activities in the communities and the training of community-based BC facilitators selected among persons with the potential to be popular opinion leaders were also amongst the activities.
Mrs Mujuru revealed that 8 000 behaviour change facilitators have been trained across the social divide countrywide from community members, church members including those amongst the apostolic faith sects and secular churches, tertiary institutions, universities, teacher’s colleges, polytechnic colleges amongst others.

Funds permitting; they would love to see the continued implementation of the programme at the national scale it is currently on.
“It has become an envy of many countries in the region and beyond and they would like to learn lessons from Zimbabwe on how we have managed to reach this level of success.

Midlands Acting Provincial Medical Director Mr Patson Mafaune said the BC programme is national and is running in all the country’s 10 provinces.
He said the overall goal of the BC programme is to reduce the number of new HIV infections in communities, Midlands Province and ultimately the whole country.
“The main purpose of this programme is to reduce new HIV infections in the ages between 15 and 49 years. It seeks to achieve this goal by reaching out to the community through active community participation,” added Mr Mafaune.

He noted that behavioural change is central to HIV prevention among many other available strategies.
“The challenge in HIV prevention is to reduce risky behaviours and increase healthy behaviours.
“Behaviour is a result of complex interaction of many factors which are at multiple levels, individual, interpersonal, community, society at large and so on.

“With such complexities this calls for collaboration of multi-sectoral approach for effective and efficient programming,” he added.
Mr Mafaune said the efficient programming was ensured through needs assessments that were done at district level and plans were developed at national, provincial , district and ward levels.

“Planning involved all important stakeholders at all levels. After the planning process there was training of political, religious, traditional and other leaders which were done per district to ensure programme ownership at community level.
“BC facilitators were trained per ward and are conducting five week-long Love and Respect sessions in their communities. Upon completion of session participants receive certificates,” he explained.

He revealed that to achieve goals, the programme is well linked to the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare revealing that there is a good working rapport between the officers, the BC facilitators and various clinics in the districts as well as district hospitals.
“This has increased in the utilisation of HIV prevention services like VCT, the treatment of STIs, PMTCT and ART.

“The utilisation rate of health services in the Midlands province has been on an upward trend,” he pointed out.
He said the programme is running in all districts eight districts of the Midlands province, namely Kwekwe, Gweru, Zvishavane, Chirumhanzu, Mberengwa, Zvishavane,

Shurugwi, Gokwe North and South.
“So far 855 666 people have been exposed to love and respect sessions whilst 673 349 have received certificates since 2007.

“All programmes have challenges and we have our own that include volunteer attrition, low male involvement, worn out BCF regalia and some urban communities too busy to attend sessions,” he said.

Despite the challenges, they have success stories to tell.
He says networking and collaboration with partners helped in conducting activities when there were limited resources.

The dedication from the BC facilitators saw the program making an impact in communities as witnessed from testimonies and verification exercises conducted by BC staff.

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