PEPFAR’s strides in helping people live with HIV/AIDS and overcoming stigma

RUVIMBO MUCHENJE

“I was diagnosed with HIV in 2009, and at the time, I faced a lot of stigma because of my status, this is why I decided to embark on this awareness programme,” Joe Garikai laughs heartily with US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Pamela Tremont.

Garikai, a 50-year-old man living with HIV for the past 15years,  was speaking during Tremont’s visit to Marondera Hospital. The ambassador was familarising herself with the HIV program at the hospital supported by the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) since 2006 in Zimbabwe.

The focus of the PEPFAR program is to achieve epidemic control, which is defined as the point at which new HIV infections and AIDS related deaths have decreased and new infections have fallen below the number of AIDS-related deaths.

The US supports HIV services for over 3 600 people living with HIV in Marondera.

Garikai is one of the beneficiaries of this US funded programme in terms of medicine provision which helps their fighting chance against the deadly disease that has claimed many lives.

 Because of his success story, Garikai, has been  employed by Marondera Hospital as a community linkage officer in the community. His jobs involves monitoring Anti-Retro Viral treatment (ART) and giving feedback to the hospital on how to assist patients.

“When I came for testing at first my CD4 count was very low at 21, weighing 35kgs, now I am weighing 65kgs. I came to the hospital through Zimtech in 2018. I started off as a facility linkage facilitator (FLF), then I became a community linkage facilitator and my duties are as follows, to track art defaulters, those who are due for viral load (testing), those who have a high viral load and those with TB and deferrals,” said Garikai.  

Defaulting on anti-retroviral treatment leads to weakening of the immune system that could result in sickness or death.

When a person on ART treatment does not come to the hospital, Garikai cycles to their home to check on them. He then gives feedback to the hospital on the challenges being faced by patients.

“I use these tools in my work in close liaison with the Opportunistic Infection ART nurse. This is a pocket defaulter track book. The nurse writes the names of people that are supposed to come to the hospital, who would not have come to the hospital on scheduled days. I go to their houses using that bicycle there and I travel far tracking those people about 10-12km one way,”  he says.

“I visit about 8-9 defaulters in a week, but sometimes I cannot visit them all in a week because of the distances that I have to travel.”

Beyond tracking defaulters, Garikai embarks on raising awareness on how to fight the HIV pandemic.

“I go to funeral and church gatherings in the community preaching the word of health. When I succeed in raising this awareness, and get people interested, I write a referral slip from this book which they bring to the clinic to get services. I also work closely with women, encouraging them to get screened for cervical cancer,” said Garikai.

His work in the community aids nurses at the hospital to keep patients on treatment thereby reducing HIV/AIDS related deaths.

For instance, Beverly Miriro* a mother of two who also shared her experience with the ambassador said the persistence of the nurses in encouraging her to take anti retro viral treatment during her pregnancy and beyond, saw her two children being born HIV free.

“I was diagnosed with HIV at the age of 17 when I had visited the clinic because I was not feeling well only to be told I was three months pregnant,” she said.

“I went home and did nothing for days. But because I had left my contact details, I got calls from the OI nurses here who were inquiring about my health and checking on me. Until one day a nurse drove to our house and encouraged me to take the medication. She convinced me and drove me back to the hospital for induction.”

Six years on, she has two healthy children who are HIV free.

Ambassador Tremont commended her for taking the brave step of taking medication and saving the new generation from the virus.

“Thank you for taking such good care of the next generation and for taking care of your communities,” said Tremont.

She expressed happiness over PEPFAR’s achievements in preserving life through ART provision to HIV survivors.

“We have made huge progress since 2006, the number of deaths from HIV is falling by 80%, now this is something we should all be very proud of.

“The US is extremely happy and gratified to support Zimbabwe in this fight through the provision of Anti-Retroviral treatments and the provision of many health workers and a lot of health clinics and hospitals around Zimbabwe.

“It is going to take all of us to pitch in to make sure that we prevent the spread of this disease and end it as a public health threat by 2030,” Tremont said.

In the past five years, the United States government has invested over US$1 billion to fight HIV and AIDS. A total of US$200 million was invested in the last year alone.

Zimbabwe is one of the countries hardest-hit by HIV/AIDS. In 1999, Zimbabwe introduced an AIDS levy, a 3% tax on income and business profits which is managed by the National AIDS Council. That money, combined with international funds, has been used to run programs aimed at ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030 in Zimbabwe.