THE National Aids Council (Nac) has produced a male engagement strategy for HIV to help address the unique challenges faced by men.
The country has made tremendous progress in the fight against HIV and Aids which has seen a decline in new infections.
The target is to end Aids as a public health threat by 2030.
On Friday, Nac met stakeholders involved in the fight against HIV and Aids from Matabeleland North Province to present the male engagement strategy for HIV.
In an interview after the presentation of the strategy, Nac monitoring and evaluation director Mr Amon Mpofu said HIV affects men differently hence the need to come up with a strategy specifically directed at them.
“As Zimbabwe, we are launching the strategy of male mobilisation after realising that males are affected by HIV differently. Men are also not good at accessing HIV services like treatment and HIV testing but they have influence in families as they are the decision makers,” he said.
Mr Mpofu said men should also mobilise communities to fight HIV/AIDS using their influence.
“We want to see a Zimbabwe with healthier men who can work and fend for their families hence this strategy meant for men,” he said.
Mr Mpofu said over the years the concentration was on women and children.
He said it is worrying that despite statistics indicating that there are more women who are HIV positive in the country, more men were dying compared to women.
“The new strategy’s aim is to educate men about HIV, mobilise them to get tested for HIV so that they get treatment,” said Mr Mpofu.
He said the implementation of the new strategy will be determined by economic and other activities in a given area.
“For example, Matabeleland North is a very unique and diverse province with different economic activities. If you go to Tsholotsho, you find malayitshas and people working in South Africa and Botswana.
In Umguza and Bubi, most men are farmers and small-scale miners, in Binga you have fishermen while Victoria Falls is a tourism hub so the approach should be different,” said mr Mpofu.
Matabeleland North provincial development officer in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small to Medium Enterprises Development, Mr Masauso Phiri, in a speech read on his behalf by Umguza District development officer in the ministry, Mrs Sikhethokuhle Moyo, said the new strategy will also address other issues that have an impact on HIV.
He said men play a bigger role in the fight against HIV and need to be educated for them to be make informed decisions.
“These documents here being disseminated to our HIV and Aids stakeholders do not replace the Zimbabwe National HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan 1V (ZNASP), but they present and elaborate the envisioned interventions and strategies to address the identified inequalities,” he said.
Mr Phiri said the male engagement strategy also seeks to engage men and boys in responding to the ZNASP goal of ending Aids as a Public Health Threat by 2030.
“The strategy also seeks to end gender based violence by addressing sexual reproductive health rights which is crucial for the achievement of results for all. It should be noted that men play a bigger role to support the elimination of mother to child transmission,” he said.
“Prevention of new HIV infections and Aids-related deaths among children, adolescent girls and women remain very important hence men need to understand the risk of HIV transmission to their partners and children.” – The Chronicle
