MSU female's shun condoms

Midlands State University  in  Gweru reportedly returned over  3 000 female condoms that had been supplied by the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council as they are shunned by women.

Health officials said the Midlands province posted  a sharp decline in sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) this year.

According to Provincial maternal and child health officer in the Ministry of Health, Tshebukani Moyo, new infection figures had dropped from 23 000 last year to 15 000 this year.

"In 2013, we recorded about 28 000 STI cases, which decreased to about 23 000 in 2015 and this year we recorded 15 000 cases between January and September," Moyo said.

He said apart from recording successes in the reduction STI cases, the province has also witnessed an increase in HIV counselling and testing between 2013 and 2016 with 260 000 people undergoing the process.

"We had an estimated 160 000 adults living with HIV in 2015 and of those, we have above 140 000 on ART which translates to 71,6 percent access to treatment rate.

"In terms of covering children on ART, we have about 10 400 below the age of 15 who are HIV positive and 7 810 have been initiated on ART as of the end of September. This translates to 74,6 percent and we hope that with the new guidelines, more people will be initiated on ART," he said.