Marythar Kambinda
Katima Mulilo – HIV prevalence remains high in the Zambezi region, with over 20% of its population aged between 15 to 49 being positive.
This was revealed at a meeting held by the Katima Mulilo Town Council for their mid-term review, which was aimed at revising the HIV strategic plan.
The event was held in partnership with the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the Ministry of Health and Social Services to assist in the council’s fight against HIV prevalence within the town.
Irene Mabuku from the health ministry in the Zambezi region said most contributing factors include low levels of condom use, a rise in commercial sex workers, early sexual debuts, low frequency of circumcision, as well as multiple partnerships.
“The elevated occurrence of self-reporting STIs among men as well as high alcohol consumption played a role in HIV prevalence,” she stated.
Other contributing factors include multiple concurrent sexual partners, alcohol abuse, especially among the youth, as well as stigmatisation preventing people from seeking medical evaluations on sexually-related concerns at public health facilities.
On a national level, the Zambezi region leads with 22.3% HIV prevalence. Katima Mulilo CEO Raphael Liswaniso said these statistics are worrisome, while he was also of the opinion that sex work is another contributing factor.
“Our border reports between 100 to 300 trucks per day, and wherever these trucks park, you will find sex workers,” said Liswaniso. The increase of sex work in the region is attributed to the region’s unemployment rate, which stands at 52%.
The CEO highlighted that although the high HIV prevalence can be reduced, it is not decreasing because of a number of those who stop taking their ARV drugs.
“We, therefore, need to put up monitoring measures to ensure that they do not stop taking their medication in order to have the virus suppressed”, Liswaniso observed.
He added that HIV stigmatisation is still high within the region due to cultural beliefs.
“It is very difficult for anyone to openly declare their HIV status within the region and not be stigmatised. Sex talk with our children within this region is an insult, and is also a problem due to cultural beliefs, which need to change for the better.
UNAIDS country director Dr Alti Zwandor submitted during the review that Namibia, which was among the countries with the highest HIV rates in the world, has seen a decline in the number of HIV infections due to measures aimed at controlling the spread of the virus.
“Namibia has made huge progress in the HIV and Covid-19 responses through demonstrated political leadership, funding the responses, and continuous efforts to strengthen health systems”, she said
Zwandor, however, highlighted that this progress towards delivering on the shared commitment to end AIDS by 2030 has been uneven. Though the 90-90-90 targets were achieved nationally, some important population groups, including children, adolescents, sex workers and men who have sex with men (MSM) were left behind.