BY BRENNA MATENDERE
THE National Aids Council (Nac) has escalated the fight against new HIV infections at Nyamapanda border post that has been designated as a hot spot for the disease following an increasing influx of sex workers targeting truck drivers.
The border area falls under Mudzi district and separates Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Trader Muzamhindo, the Nac Mudzi District Aids Coordinator (Dac) told The NewsHawks in an interview on Tuesday that there is increasing cross border movements at Nyamapanda transit area that has attracted sex workers who are increasing the HIV risk.
“We have a lot of truck drivers and truck stops at the Nyamapanda border area and naturally sex workers are flooding the area. That has seen the border area now being marked as a hot spot for HIV and we have since started various interventions to reduce the risk,” she said.
Muzamhindo said at the border, Nac has started a key populations programme that has seen sex workers being recruited to receive training that makes them peer educators to their colleagues.
As peer educators, the trained sex workers go into the border area educating their colleagues about HIV prevention methods, treatment and care issues.
Besides that, Nac has also started projects of empowerment for sex workers such as poultry production, cattle ranching and catering so that they are empowered.
“If empowered, the sex workers can be able to have the guts to negotiate for safe sex because they wont be desperate. That alone reduces the risks of HIV infections,” said Muzamhindo.
“We also have a male engagement programmes in the district as a whole. That male engagement programme is still in its infancy stage. For the key populations programme the district has 17 peer educators and for the male engagement programme each ward has a Behavior change community motivator (BCCM)”
Mudzi district is situated in Mashonaland East Province and shares boundaries with UMP,Rushinga,Nyanga and Mozambique. The district is subdivided into 18 wards with a total population of 15 8478 (82 124 Females and 76 354 Males (census 2022).
Mudzi is in the natural region 4 and 5 and major economic activities are farming, mining and petty trade. The district has 31 health facilities;1 government hospital (Kotwa District Hospital) and 30 clinics. The district HIV prevalence is at 10.8% and incidence 0.11% (national HIV estimates 2024)
The district has in total three HIV hotspots namely, Nyamapanda border area, Kotwa Growth point and Makaha gold mining area.
