{"id":7777,"date":"2025-07-17T12:11:27","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T12:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=7777"},"modified":"2025-07-17T12:14:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T12:14:16","slug":"zimbabwe-celebrates-hiv-milestone-but-warns-of-funding-threat-as-stigma-remains-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=7777","title":{"rendered":"Zimbabwe Celebrates HIV Milestone but Warns of Funding Threat as Stigma Remains High"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><br>Health Correspondent<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>HARARE \u2013 Zimbabwe has achieved a major global health milestone, becoming one of only seven countries in Eastern and Southern Africa to reach the UNAIDS 95-95-95 HIV treatment targets ahead of schedule. However, the National AIDS Council (NAC) warns that severe international funding cuts threaten to reverse these hard-won gains, compounded by the nation ranking second globally for HIV-related stigma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The UNAIDS Global AIDS Update 2025 confirms Zimbabwe met the targets by 2024: 95% of people living with HIV know their status, 95% of those diagnosed are on life-saving antiretroviral therapy (ART), and 95% of those on treatment are virally suppressed. This success is attributed to five years of intensive efforts, including expanded testing, person-centred care, and innovations like multi-month ART refills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NAC Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Bernard Madzima, welcomed the recognition but sounded a stark alarm:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The UNAIDS, they are right, we are one of the countries which have achieved the 95-95-95 targets despite the cuts\u2026 Our worry is that with the funding cuts now, we might suffer a sort of reversal of our gains over the next few years.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He emphasized the 2025 cuts, particularly from PEPFAR, are disrupting vital prevention programs, medical supplies, and community-led interventions critical for reaching the 2030 goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stigma Casts a Long Shadow:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Celebration is tempered by a sobering reality highlighted in the same UNAIDS report: Zimbabwe ranks second globally (after Iran) for the proportion of people living with HIV (30%) who experienced stigma and discrimination while seeking HIV or other health services in the past year. Internalized stigma is also pervasive, with 20% of PLHIV reporting they missed ART doses due to fear of disclosing their status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Internalized stigma remains common and is a frequently cited reason for missing health-care visits,&#8221; UNAIDS stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Persistent Challenges:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite overall progress, significant hurdles remain:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A gender gap exists: 73% of men on ART achieve viral suppression vs. 83% of women.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Key populations (sex workers, men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs) face high levels of stigma, discrimination, and violence, hindering access to services and accounting for 25% of new infections in the region.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Late presentation is an issue, with one in four people starting treatment only when HIV is advanced.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Progress Under Threat:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Madzima stressed the urgency of building domestic funding and strengthening community responses to safeguard progress. &#8220;We were supposed to keep the momentum up to 2030\u2026 We have not reached the target of 2030\u2026 We have to keep pushing.&#8221; UNAIDS globally warns that without corrective action, funding cuts could lead to 6 million new infections by 2029.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Zimbabwe&#8217;s achievements \u2013 a 75% reduction in new infections since 2010 and significant drops in AIDS-related deaths and mother-to-child transmission \u2013 demonstrate what&#8217;s possible. Sustaining this momentum now depends on addressing the twin threats of diminished resources and deeply entrenched stigma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stay updated on crucial development<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Zim GBC News\u00a92025<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Health Correspondent HARARE \u2013 Zimbabwe has achieved a major global health milestone, becoming one of only seven countries in Eastern and Southern Africa to reach the UNAIDS 95-95-95 HIV treatment&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7777"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7779,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7777\/revisions\/7779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}