More Than 100 000 Zimbabweans Failing To Access HIV treatment

“Currently we have slightly above 350 000 people accessing ARVs. We have about 503 000 people who are supposed to be accessing treatment, National AIDS Council’s monitoring and Evaluation Director Amon Mpofu told Radio VOP in an interview in Harare on Wednesday.

The country attributes lack of access to Anti-Retroviral Drugs to a shortage of CD4 count machines which qualifies an HIV positive patient to go on treatment.

Zimbabwe also suffered a big blow last year when it failed to qualify for the round 10 of the Global Fund. Under round 10 of the Global Fund the country had applied for US$170 million for HIV and US$50 million for Tuberculosis.

As a result the Zimbabwe has to rely on AIDS levy for HIV and AIDS programmes. Despite inadequate HIV and AIDS resources the country’s HIV prevalence continue to decline, from over 27% in five years ago to less than 15% now.