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HIV, STIs surge at Hopley

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The poverty-ridden informal settlement of Hopley is fast becoming a hot spot with reports that one in every eight women is HIV positive and that there has been a sharp increase in sexually transmitted infections

The poverty-ridden informal settlement of Hopley is fast becoming a hot spot with reports that one in every eight women is HIV positive and that there has been a sharp increase in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) .

By Phyllis Mbanje

According to statistics from the National Aids Council (NAC), 832 pregnant women were tested for HIV in 2014 and out of that number 110 tested positive translating to one in every eight women being HIV positive.

Of concern also is that in the last quarter of 2014, NAC recorded 598 STIs in males and 721 in females, and repeated cases were 46 and 74 respectively.

Poverty has been cited as one of the many reasons people in that area are engaging in risky behaviour like having unprotected sex and having many partners who have not been tested for HIV.

“Poverty is the main culprit here because many of the inhabitants in such a set-up have no formal employment and they live on a hand-to-mouth basis,” said NAC Harare province co-ordinator Adonijah Muzondiona.

Most couples have settled in marriages of conveniences and have no or little knowledge of their partner’s sexual history.

“These people just rush into unions because they are somehow coming from troubled homes and they rarely go for HIV testing,” the provincial co-ordinator explained.

Young girls, some aged 14, are reportedly selling their bodies for a few dollars just so they can survive and put food on their table, but the older men from affluent neighbourhoods who prowl these settlements are not keen on using condoms and pay more for unprotected sex.

“There are indications of low condom use in such places and that explains the rampant STIs,” In response to this, NAC has now embarked on an aggressive campaign targeting in these informal settlements who have limited access to sexual reproductive services.

“Our interventions are now targeting these peripheral settlements. Of course it will take a bit of time because this has been their way of life for a long time,” Muzondiona said.

The situation is the same in other informal settlements and high-density suburbs like Caledonia and Epworth where people live in squalid conditions

Earlier this year Harare recorded over 10 000 cases of STIs despite more condoms being distributed around the country.

The Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council said that in 2014, more than 77 000 000 male condoms and 3 600 000 female condoms were distributed.

An estimated amount of more than $2,1 million was spent on female condoms purchase last year.