THE National Aids Council (NAC) and Ministry of Women Affairs Gender and Community development (MWAGCD) have agreed in their quest to reduce Gender based Violence (GBV) by totally eliminating Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Aids) by the year 2030. BY ALEXIS SIBANDA
Speaking at the gender planning and co-ordination meeting on Friday, district Aids co-ordinator for Bulawayo South, Millicent Soko said Aids should be totally eliminated by 2030 because it has since been seen as one of the causes of GBV and this will be achieved by the implementation of the 90/90/90% reduction of HIV.
“90/90/90 refers to the 90% reduction in terms of Aids related deaths, 90% reduction in terms of stigmatization and 90% in terms of new infections,” she said.
Soko said by 2030 HIV should not be a public threat and this can be achieved if everyone becomes aware of their status and positive people start taking their treatment
“If everyone knows their status, it would be easy to achieve the 2030 goal and this will also reduce Aids deaths”
“90/90/90 is important in GBV because what we want is the suppression of the virus and we now use the test and treat method, more of a fast track method to reach our goal,” she said.
Meanwhile community development officer, Dominica Mringi urged GBV survivors to follow the referral pathway whenever they become victims of rape because that is when they can be tested and counselled and this will reduce the rate of Aids.
