Project profile — ZVITAMBO Project - Phase III - Village Health Workers

Some 1.1 million Zimbabweans (out of a population of 13.1 million) are infected with HIV or suffering the effects of AIDS. About 17,000 children are infected with HIV each year, mostly through parent-to-child transmission, and 10,000 children die each year from AIDS; it is the primary cause of death in children under five years of age. This project focuses on improving HIV prevention and care services for babies in two districts in Zimbabwe's Midlands Province through a comprehensive approach that includes HIV testing, family planning, prenatal and postnatal care, breastfeeding practices and drug treatments. Reviving the network of community volunteers known as village health workers and providing them with better support, are important elements of the Ministry of Health's plan to bring essential services closer to families. The project aims to train village health workers to monitor HIV-exposed babies, encourage parents to get tested, and promote methods to reduce HIV risks; train health staff on best practices to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission and treat HIV positive patients; develop district capacity to track health statistics and manage health care delivery; and raise community leaders' awareness of the various ways people can reduce the risks and impacts of HIV.

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Results as of August 2011 include: thanks to efforts by Village Health Workers to encourage women to deliver at a health facility and to get HIV testing and counselling, the percentage of women now delivering in institutions rather than in homes has increased from 70% to 90% in Chirumhanzu district and from 70% to 86% in Shurugwi district; the percentage of antenatal care-registered women who have delivered knowing their HIV status has increased to 100% from 93% in Chirumhanzu district and to 97% from 73% in Shurugwi district; the proportion of identified HIV-positive women receiving antiretroviral regimens to prevent transmission to their babies is currently at 93% in Chirumhanzu district (33 percentage points higher than the target of 60%) and 62% in Shurugwi district (12 percentage points higher than the target of 50%). These improvements have contributed to greater effectiveness of district health systems in preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) and have ultimately contributed to better HIV treatment and care, and to reduced HIV prevalence among antenatal women and children.