Fact Zimbabwe, partners launch US$54m programme

Zim Now Writer

to provide comprehensive services to HIV-affected and infected children

Family Aids Caring Trust (FACT) Zimbabwe in October launched a series of programmes worth US$54 million which are meant to help fight HIV in Manicaland and Masvingo provinces.

The programmes were launched in partnership with the United States of America (USA) President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

According to FACT, the programmes aim to increase Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) access to high-impact HIV prevention services and activities.

These programmes include Sustaining Prevention, Increasing Access to Care and Empowerment for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (SPACE for OVC) and the DREAMS-Support, Maintain, Advocate, reduce Risk and Transform (SMART) Girls.

"SPACE for OVC is a follow-on programme from a previous OVC project, which reached 172 000 vulnerable children. It expands into Masvingo Province, taking on four new districts. It is part of the broader USAid orphans and vulnerable children programme worth US$78,8 million, reaching over half a million orphans and vulnerable children in Zimbabwe.

"For the next five years, SPACE for OVC will work in high HIV-burden districts, to help communities and local institutions provide a comprehensive set of services to improve the health, nutrition, and psycho-social well-being of HIV-affected and infected children. It will ensure that these children can access HIV prevention, care, and treatment services, as well as prevention of and response to gender-based violence.

“Furthermore, it will deliver entrepreneurship, employability, and vocational training to caregivers of orphans and vulnerable children to improve families’ economic stability,” FACT said.

The DREAMS SMART Girls programme is a partnership to reduce new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women in Zimbabwe. It has already reached over 59 000 adolescent girls and young women and SPACE for OVC will reach 70 000 most vulnerable orphans and children.

Currently, 86 percent of People Living with HIV know their status, 97 percent of HIV-positive people are on life-saving antiretroviral therapy (ART) and 90 percent of those on ART are virally suppressed.