Bulawayo house parties fuel HIV: NAC

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THE National Aids Council (NAC) says house parties are fuelling the spread of HIV and Aids in Bulawayo among young people.

THE National Aids Council (NAC) says house parties are fuelling the spread of HIV and Aids in Bulawayo among young people.

BY PRIVILEGE SHOKO

NAC provincial co-ordinator Sinatra Nyathi said parties, popular with youths from affluent suburbs, had become a cause for concern as they promoted  unprotected sex.

Nyathi said Bulawayo’s HIV hotspots were along Samuel Parirenyatwa Street, Emakhandeni suburb, nite clubs and shebeens.

According to NAC, Bulawayo and Matabeleland South remained home to the country’s HIV hotspots with incidence rates of 2,5 and 1,4 respectively.

The national incidence rate dropped from 1,95 in 2001 to 1,1 last year. Nyathi said they had identified house parties as major drivers of the spread of HIV.

“We have identified hotspots in the province and the issue is that youths are holding house parties and in these house parties they practice unsafe sex, which is a cause for concern,” she told journalists last Thursday.

“Youths get drunk to the extent that they do not know what would be happening.”

Nyathi said NAC was engaging schools and parents to educate youths about HIV.

“We would conduct dialogues, roadshows, debates and engage the people with HIV so that they share information with youths concerning HIV,” she said.

“We also want to try to engage organisers of these parties and we believe that those children who have parents in the Diaspora are the ones that organise parties.”

She said many youths on antiretroviral drugs feared to disclose their status and blamed faith healing prophets for misleading people on HIV.

“When people are told by the prophets that their HIV has been healed they tend to throw medication away without even approaching medical doctors,” she said.

“We advise people to go back to the doctor who is supposed to tell them that they are now HIV free.”

Nyathi appealed to the government to chip in with aid to help people living with HIV as this year’s drought meant they would face food shortages.

“Organisations that had been giving people food aid have now stopped and some people may end up not taking drugs because of food,” she said.

Zimbabwe has an HIV prevalence rate of 15%, which is still among the highest in the world.