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CIDA supports ZVITAMBO HIV and AIDS Prevention and Care for Mothers and Children Programme
Taurai Maduna, Kubatana.net
October 23, 2006

Lucia Tsvangira and her six-month baby Chido © Kubatana.net

Courageous Lucia Tsvangira and her six-month baby Chido sit peacefully under a tent at Chirumanzu District Hospital 200km from Harare, as speaker after speaker take to the podium at the launch of the second phase of the ZVITAMBO Aids and Prevention Program in Zimbabwe. In between speeches, Rutendo Mandizvidza (7 years) and Tinoteda Manhovo (11 years) steal the limelight reciting poems on HIV and AIDS amidst cheers and ululations from people gathered around.

Finally it was Lucia's time to speak and paying no heed to protocol, she recounts in her local language about how she went to the voluntary HIV and counselling testing centre after becoming pregnant. After her test she was told that she was HIV positive and was encouraged to seek for help from ZVITAMBO.

ZVITAMBO is a Harare based organisation that provides technical and material support for HIV care and prevention services for women and children in 14 rural mission hospitals. The organisation is affiliated with the University of Zimbabwe, the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre in Canada, and The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the United States.

Lucia is one of more than 25 000 rural women who have benefited from the first phase of the ZVITAMBO HIV and AIDS Prevention Programme for Mothers and Children. The Government of Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is supporting the second phase of the programme.

Speaking at the official launch of the second phase, Ms Roxanne Dube, Canada's Ambassador to Zimbabwe said the work being done by ZVITAMBO was important because "they provide an accessible entry point of services on HIV/AIDS".

Canada's Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Roxanne Dubé is shown around Chirumanzi District Hospital © Kubatana.net

She added that as recognition of the "importance and effectiveness" of their work, CIDA had approved the second phase of the ZVITAMBO HIV and AIDS Prevention and Care for Mothers and Children to the total amount of $CAD2.4 million.

Dr Alison Jenkins from ZVITAMBO said her organisation had been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and professionalism of the District Administration and the Provincial and District Health Executive and hoped that the partnership would, "extend and strengthen PMTCT".

She added that while ZVITAMBO had been focusing more on mothers, there was a need to become broader and create "HIV friendly and supportive communities - free of denial, blame and ignorance. All partners need to work together to bring about this goal."

Mothers in the Chirumanzu District Hospital pose for a photograph © Kubatana.net

Naomi Tawengwa is the co-ordinator of ZVITAMBO. She said women like Lucia Tsvangira who knew about their HIV status where in a better position to live longer and more fulfilling lives.

She added that her organisation was keen on promoting the family approach, where people talk openly on issues to do with HIV and AIDS. "In Shona culture it is taboo to talk about sex but it's something we want to promote."

Despite the great work that ZVITAMBO is doing to assist the rural community, those tested positive like Lucia are still waiting in vain for free Anti Retroviral drugs (ARV's). According to The Standard, more than 35 HIV/Aids activists stormed the National Aids Council headquarters in Harare demanding that the organisation make a written undertaking to provide the life-prolonging Anti-Retroviral drugs to more than 600 000 people. The activists are quoted as saying; "We will not stand and watch while our brothers and sisters die in pain at home with not even a cent for painkillers."

Background to ZVITAMBO
ZVITAMBO was formed in Harare in 1996 as a clinical trial designed to determine whether there were benefits in giving a single oral dose of vitamin A to mothers and newborns, in terms of reducing mother-to-child HIV transmission during the breastfeeding period, reducing infant mortality and reducing new HIV infections in women. It was found that the doses of vitamin A had no overall effect on these outcomes, but other findings, particularly those related to safer breastfeeding, have been very important and have contributed towards influencing PMTCT policy and improving PMTCT programs both in Zimbabwe and around the world.

At its height, 175 Zimbabweans worked on this clinical trial in Harare, with follow up of the over 14,000 mothers and babies extending to all parts of Zimbabwe. As this follow up drew to a close in 2001, several key ZVITAMBO staff members - some of whom are here with us today - wanted to apply what they had learned about PMTCT to benefit their people. These were the early days of PMTCT. Source - Dr Alison Jenkins, ZVITAMBO

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