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Mukudzei Chingwere Herald Reporter

Zimbabwe is taking stock of its five-year plan on the final elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis by consolidating the gains from this process and correcting shortcomings in the next plan, Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Constantino Chiwenga said yesterday

He was speaking during the third quarter 2022 meeting on the national validation committee on the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis ahead of the expiration of the current plan at the end of this year.

Zimbabwe has recorded huge successes in its fight against HIV and was recently commended by the United Nations for a convincing roadmap set as it journeys towards eliminating HIV transmission by 2030.

The UN congratulated Zimbabwe for achieving the 90-90-90 targets and now the country is seized with achieving the 95-95-95 targets by 2025.

This means 90 percent of people living with HIV know their status, 90 percent living with HIV who know their status are on antiretroviral therapy and 90 percent of those on treatment have achieved viral suppression.

“As a country, we developed a plan on eliminating mother-to-child transmission of both HIV and syphilis covering the period 2018-2022,” said VP Chiwenga.

“As Zimbabwe is now in the final year of implementation of this plan, my Ministry has begun the process of taking stock of the successes, challenges, innovations and best practices we have realised over this period in preparation for development of the follow-on plan covering the years 2023-2026.”

VP Chiwenga chairs the National Validation Committee and said he looks forward to the participation of programme managers from relevant departments within Government, civil society organisations, representatives of the community of People Living with HIV, academics, legal practitioners as well as implementing partners in this important activity.

The World Health Organisation released global guidance and processes for triple elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV, congenital syphilis and Hepatitis B.

“This is a very welcome development as these three infections can be prevented by testing mothers and treating them if they test positive for any of those three conditions,” said VP Chiwenga.

“I wish to inform you that the next follow on plan will be focusing on triple elimination of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis.”

VP Chiwenga said the UNAIDS Strategy 2021-2026 “End Inequalities, End AIDS” highlights the inequities affecting the health of women and children.

Ending vertical transmission and improving the health of women living with HIV, while ensuring antiretroviral treatment for all children and adolescents living with HIV, are priorities in the strategy.

“Recognising that issues of women and children need to be in the spotlight, a Global Alliance to end AIDS in Children by 2030 was launched on the 1st of August 2022 on the sidelines of the International AIDS Conference in Montreal,” said VP Chiwenga.

“Zimbabwe was officially invited to be in the first phase of implementation of the Global Alliance and I have officially communicated my acceptance to join the Global Alliance. I now expect to move ahead and domesticate the Global Alliance to End AIDS in children by 2030.”