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MARONDERA, ZIMBABWE —Zimbabwean health officials said Tuesday they aim to eliminate HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, crediting the United States with making such progress possible through aid and support.
U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe Pamela Tremont and officials from PEPFAR and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention toured the HIV services area at Marondera Hospital, located some 70 kilometers east of Harare, the Zimbabwe capital, where HIV/AIDS once sickened thousands.
Speaking to journalists afterward, Dr. Delight Madoro, a district medical officer in Mashonaland East province, said PEPFAR - or the U.S. Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief - enabled Zimbabwe to combat the epidemic with strategies such as blood-based self-testing and PrEP, which stands for pre-exposure prophylaxis.
"And after maybe you test positive, there are staff and support ... at the facilities to help link you to other HIV services," Madoro said.
"There is a lot that is happening on the ground in terms of [the] fight against HIV through the support that we are getting from PEPFAR," he continued. "And in terms of human resources, we're getting more staff. This means our clients are going to have more time with clinicians, so that we become thorough, and we get thorough with our treatment.
"So, in a nutshell, I can say the support that we have been getting from PEPFAR is of paramount importance," he said.
Tremont said the U.S. was committed to help fight the HIV epidemic in Zimbabwe.
"We've made huge progress since 2006," she said. "The number of deaths from HIV has fallen 80%, and that is something I think we should all be very proud of."
Tremont mentioned that the U.S. provided antiretroviral treatments and many health care workers at clinics and hospitals around Zimbabwe.
"It's great to see all that in action today and to see the dedication and stubbornness of the health care workers reaching down to those HIV patients who are scared and reluctant to undertake treatment," she said. "Thank you to the health care workers. You are our heroes in all this."
Haddi Cham, the Centers for Disease Control's Zimbabwe HIV services branch chief, said the PEPFAR program made the HIV facility at Marondera Hospital possible.
"We have been supporting this facility for many, many years now, and we are really grateful for the collaboration with all the key stakeholders. Through that strong collaboration, we are able to realize these results," Cham said.
Zimbabwe is one of the countries hit hardest by HIV/AIDS, especially before 1999, when authorities introduced an AIDS levy - a 3% tax on income and business profits that is used by the National AIDS Council for programs to combat the spread of the pandemic.
Data indicate the prevalence of HIV among adults ages 15 to 49 in Zimbabwe declined from 12.7% in 2019 to 10.5% in 2023.