Moonlight HIV testing lights up Muzarabani

Munyaradzi Blessing Doma

Zim Now Writer

It’s almost 8pm and one man carrying a satchel on his back and a packet of mealie-meal arrives at Muzarabani Growth Point, seemingly confused by the hive of activity.

He meets some acquaintances and they exchange pleasantries and for some moment, he is transfixed on the musical performance by their local artiste Bigboy Motsi, popularly known as Mr Muzarabani.

As the man continues to watch the musical performance, he continues again to converse with his acquaintances before they point to him, the direction of some pitched tents.

The tents are for the Moonlight HIV Testing Service which the National AIDS Council in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and Child Care were offering to the people of Muzarabani.

The HIV testing service is offered at night or after hours hence the moniker, “moonlight.”

From a considerable distance, this reporter observes as the man walks to the tents and after doing all the processes, he (the man) gets tested for HIV.

After some time, this reporter approaches the man who identifies himself as Shepherd Alufande aged 32, who revealed that owing to a busy work schedule and also some hesitancy, it was his first ever time to get tested for HIV.

“I work for an agricultural services company here in Muzarabani and I have a very busy schedule such that sometimes I work even during the weekends.

“So, I don’t even get time for other programmes unless maybe I’m off duty, which is rare.

“I wasn’t aware of this programme but when I heard the loud music, I came to inquire and my friends told me about the HIV testing services being offered.

“Another thing is that all along I was hesitant to get tested, but today I just gathered some courage and thought let me give it a try.

“And I loved the fact that this is being done at night so apart from the fact that I was done with work, I was also free knowing that it is dark.

“I think I speak for most men to say they would appreciate something like this; not only because of the darkness but also because of the convenience in terms of the time,” said Alufande.

Similar sentiments were also echoed by Lloyd Mutangi, who said it was really important to know one’s status.

“I’m on my way home but I decided to pass through the Growth Point for this programme.

“This was really important for me to know my status because even as I date, I should be aware of my HIV status.

“I last got tested a long time ago because most times you will be afraid of doing this but then when you get an opportunity like this you have to grab it.

“I know testing services are available at clinics but one may be shy to go there, so this is really convenient. This is the best set up there is.

“As you can see, we have many men who are here, which shows that they would rather prefer this arrangement,” said Mutangi.

Josephine Zaina aged 32, said the Moonlight HIV Testing Service was really a game changer because of its convenience for many reasons.

“Sometimes you may be shy to go to the clinics so you will avoid getting tested.

“In my case, I used to procrastinate so when this programme came here, I said let me take this opportunity and I’m happy I got tested and the results came negative,” said Zaina, as she joined her friends who were enjoying Mr Muzarabani’s music.

Blessed Chidekeya, a bar lady at the Growth Point also applauded NAC’s initiative, describing it as the best convenient way of testing people for HIV.

Chidekeya said from her own assessment, many people decided to get tested because of this convenience, hence more of such programmes had to be done.

“Getting tested is very important in that you may live thinking you are healthy when you are not. I came here looking for something else but when I heard of the programme, I said let me also get this opportunity to get tested.

“Though sometimes I test myself using HIV self-test kits, I thought let me do this with the help of professionals, so I’m so happy to get this opportunity.

“At first, I was shocked that they are offering HIV testing services in the night and I even asked some people and I was told that they had to cater for people who may be shy, so this is quite commendable.

“So, at first when I heard the music, I just thought it was a musical show then I saw some tents and decided to get tested.

“I work at that bar (she says, while pointing to a nearby watering hole), but I had to leave so that I come here and get tested,” said Chidekeya.

Muzarabani District AIDS Coordinator, Richard Chasima, said the uptake of services through the Moonlight HIV Testing Service was quite encouraging as people came in their hundreds and got tested.

“We had to initiate this kind of intervention after having noted that we have been conducting a lot of these awareness campaigns but we noted that we are missing out on other critical sectors especially the key populations, in the name of sex workers and their clients.

“Normally when we got out for the awareness campaigns, they (targeted key populations) will be resting when we are at work and in Muzarabani we have some other workers who may not have access to HIV and AIDS information and services.

“So, we decided to have this Moonlight HIV Testing so that we reach out to those groups of people like we did.

“It was so encouraging that we managed to reach out to quite a number of men.

“As you are aware, it is not easy to convince men to come for testing. Men do not have that health seeking behaviour which is quite good but when we met them through the Moonlight Testing Service, it was quite encouraging because men made up the biggest number of those who took services yesterday,” said Chasima.

He added that other services like STIs screening, Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid and Camera, diabetes and blood pressure testing were also being offered.

Chasima revealed that they had managed to meet over 70 percent of their targets.

“Our overall goal is to have 95 percent of our total population in the district knowing their status,” added Chasima.

He further revealed that according to the 2022 population census, Muzarabani has134 000 people and has 29 wards, 14 of which are in Lower Muzarabani and the others in Upper Muzarabani.

The district has an HIV prevalence rate of 7,04 percent among the age groups of 15-49, for the 0-14 years they are at 0,74 percent and overally they are 4,7 percent for all the age groups.