News / Health
Harare tops on STI infections
09 Sep 2014 at 13:48hrs | Views
The number of people infected by sexually transmitted infections (STIs) has increased by over 19 percent in the second quarter of 2014 with Harare topping the list, a development that has been attributed to carelessness.
Despite campaigns by stakeholders for the promotion of safe sex, figures on the ground show a worrying trend with the number of STIs increasing from 42 400 in the first quarter of 2014 to 50 500 in the second quarter.
Of the new STI cases recorded, 38 percent were tested for HIV with a positivity rate of 16 percent.
Harare Metropolitan province recorded the highest number of STI cases while Matabeleland South tops the list in terms of percentages.
The high percentage in Matabeleland South has been attributed to cross border migration and numerous mining activities including gold panning.
National AIDS Council Public Relations Officer, Ms Tadiwa Pfupa said this is a signal that people are neglecting protected sex and expressed concern that out of 197 000 people who tested for HIV, 185 000 collected their results while the other 12 000 did not.
"Those people could still be behaving as people who don't know that some of them are positive and they are not taking medication when they should be by now. That means they could be infecting other people as they are just as good as people who did not come for testing," she said.
The number of people who were tested for HIV also declined by seven percent in the second quarter compared with the first three months of the year.
Female clients were the majority of the people who accessed new HIV tests and HIV retests with 56 percent and 67 percent respectively.
The statistics also reveal that 724 299 people were on anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment during the second quarter.
About 1,2 million people are in need of the ARV therapy in accordance with the new World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines which require people with a CD4 count of 500 to be put on treatment.
Despite campaigns by stakeholders for the promotion of safe sex, figures on the ground show a worrying trend with the number of STIs increasing from 42 400 in the first quarter of 2014 to 50 500 in the second quarter.
Of the new STI cases recorded, 38 percent were tested for HIV with a positivity rate of 16 percent.
Harare Metropolitan province recorded the highest number of STI cases while Matabeleland South tops the list in terms of percentages.
The high percentage in Matabeleland South has been attributed to cross border migration and numerous mining activities including gold panning.
"Those people could still be behaving as people who don't know that some of them are positive and they are not taking medication when they should be by now. That means they could be infecting other people as they are just as good as people who did not come for testing," she said.
The number of people who were tested for HIV also declined by seven percent in the second quarter compared with the first three months of the year.
Female clients were the majority of the people who accessed new HIV tests and HIV retests with 56 percent and 67 percent respectively.
The statistics also reveal that 724 299 people were on anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment during the second quarter.
About 1,2 million people are in need of the ARV therapy in accordance with the new World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines which require people with a CD4 count of 500 to be put on treatment.
Source - zbc
