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U.S. honors six Zimbabweans for HIV/AIDS activism
US Embassy
December 06, 2011

The United States today honored four individuals and two organizations for excellence in their involvement in the fight against HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe.

Technical experts Agnes Mahomva and Karin Hatzold and joint winners radio journalist Hamu Madzedze and activist Tichaona Nhizwa; were selected winners in the leadership, special recognition and communication categories respectively at the Auxillia Chimusoro HIV and AIDS awards ceremony on Tuesday. Delta Corporation and Northern Tobacco also received awards for HIV programs targeted at employees and their families.

Congratulating the winners, U.S. Ambassador Charles Ray said the winners are "living proof that we can all make a difference in fighting HIV and AIDS. These award winners should serve as inspirations for us all. I congratulate you and thank you for everything you have done to help create new opportunities for Zimbabweans impacted by HIV/AIDS."

The awards are named after Auxillia Chimusoro, one of the first individuals to go public with her HIV positive status in Zimbabwe. Chimusoro disclosed her HIV positive status in 1989 despite the significant social stigma attached to HIV and AIDS at the time. She founded Batanai HIV/AIDS Support Group in 1992 and was one of the founders of the Zimbabwe National Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS. She also worked with several support groups before her death in June 1998.

The annual Auxillia Chimusoro awards ceremony, in its 11th year, is sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) which has spearheaded U.S. efforts to combat HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe for over 20 years. Since 2000, the U.S. government has invested over $245 million in Zimbabwe's fight against HIV/AIDS. In 2012, the U.S. will contribute an estimated $60 million to the national HIV/AIDS response in Zimbabwe through the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), including support for treatment of 80,000 people and interventions to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV for approximately 40,000 women living with HIV/AIDS.

See detailed citation for winners below:

Winners of the 2011 Auxillia Chimusoro HIV & AIDS Awards

1. Communications Award:

Winner - Hamu Madzedze

In recognition of Hamu Madzedze's efforts to provide accurate, relevant and up to date information on HIV and AIDS issues through the electronic media.

This journalist has extensively covered HIV and AIDS issues consistently and effectively during the year. She has excelled in providing informative HIV related news items on issues affecting the ordinary person in Zimbabwe through the electronic media. This journalist has covered major thematic areas and policy developments on HIV and AIDS using reliable sources and has remained objective and ethical in her reporting.

1a. Communications Award:

Runner Up: Tichaona Nhizwa

In recognition of Tichaona Nhizwa's dedication and hard work in promoting male circumcision services in his community.

This young person is a role model who is involved in promoting male circumcision services in his community. He managed to recruit more than 100 other young people for male circumcision services over a two month period despite being physically challenged.

2. Social Investment Award

This category has two winners this year.

The first organisation employs over 5,400 individuals countrywide. This organisation has an ART programme that provides ARV drugs to current employees, their spouses and children and to former employees. It conducts on- going testing and counselling activities on site and has a vibrant peer educators program.

Winner: DELTA Corporation

In recognition of DELTA Corporation's commitment and investment towards the HIV and AIDS response in the workplace.

The second organization is a major player in the agro-industry with interests in tobacco marketing. It is implementing an HIV and AIDS workplace program in Mvurwi, Guruve, Nyazura and Karoi covering over 8,000 farmers, employees and their dependents. The organization's HIV and AIDS project has managed to improve access to HIV related information, testing and counseling and care and treatment services for tobacco farmers, their dependents and the surrounding community.

Winner: Northern Tobacco

In recognition of Northern Tobacco's commitment and investment in addressing HIV and AIDS within the farming community.

3. Leadership Award

Winner: Dr. Agnes Mahomva

In recognition of Dr. Agnes Mahomva's outstanding and consistent leadership skills in harnessing the country's human, technical and financial resources to effectively respond to pediatric HIV.

This award recognizes a leader who has shown enormous commitment, dedication and consistency in the response to HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe.

Through her guidance, strong leadership skills and technical capacity, Zimbabwe has seen a significant roll out of PMTCT services countrywide. As a Senior Government Technical Officer in the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, she managed and co-ordinated the roll out of the PMTCT program from 3 pilot sites in 2001 to over 1,500 comprehensive PMTCT sites in 2006 resulting in a 96% geographic expansion of PMTCT coverage of all health institutions in Zimbabwe. She is also very passionate about elimination of pediatric HIV in infants and has played an instrumental role in increasing access of ART to HIV positive women and their partners. She continues to be a strong advocate for the training of health care works to administer ART to children. In addition, she has successfully mobilized funding of over $45 million through the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) as part of on-going efforts of the National PMTCT program of eliminating new HIV infections in children by 2015 through the expansion of PMTCT services.

4. Lynde Francis - Special Recognition

Winner: Dr. Karin Hatzold

In recognition of Dr. Karin Hatzold's significant long- term contribution and dedication in providing the leadership and technical capacity to the male circumcision program in Zimbabwe making it a model for the highest standards of care and efficiency in Africa.

This award recognizes a medical doctor who has worked passionately and tirelessly for the prevention and care of HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe over the past 15 years, starting as GMO and acting DMO in Bulawayo, Chipinge and Chiredzi before joining PSI Zimbabwe in 2004.

Most recently, she has worked as a national and international advocate for male circumcision supporting the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare and NAC in their ambitious target to circumcise 1, 2 million boys and men by 2015. She has also successfully mobilized funds for male circumcision from a variety of donors since program inception in 2009 and has made numerous presentations at international fora to raise awareness of the successful implementation of male circumcision services in Zimbabwe.

She was part of the technical team that developed the male circumcision training module for service providers which has become a standard model in the Southern African region. Through her work at PSI Zimbabwe, she has supported the efforts of the Zimbabwean Government to circumcise nearly 45,000 men and boys through a program which models the highest standards of care, efficiency and cost effectiveness. It is estimated that this work alone has prevented approximately 11,250 new cases of HIV infections in Zimbabwe and as the male circumcision program scales up, this program will help Zimbabwe bring the epidemic under control.

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