THE National Aids Council (NAC) has contracted primary social health services provider, Zimbos Abantu Trust, to lead its programmes in Bulawayo targeting more than 5 000 people.
The organisation, which is being subsidised by NAC, is operating from Cowdray Park and Emganwini, with at least 26 employees.
The developments were revealed by NAC acting provincial manager Douglas Moyo during a media tour of the two sites in Cowdray Park and Emganwini.
“As NAC, we have sub-contracted organisations for programmes around HIV and Aids and in every province there are organisations that we support financially as NAC,” Moyo said.
“In Bulawayo, there are other organisations besides Zimbos Abantu that are subcontracted by NAC. So Zimbos Abantu has been implementing in Harare also contracted by NAC.
“Now they are here in Bulawayo and we felt that we should give them a soft landing in Bulawayo. They have just started, They are rolling out their programme.”
He said the programme would be replicated in other provinces across the country.
“Depending on the success of this concept or this idea which we are excited about as Bulawayo, we hope that they will be able to take it to other provinces as well,” Moyo said.
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He said the programmes were performance-based, adding that the contracted organisations submitted their plans to NAC and were supervised at provincial and national levels.
“As it is with Zimbos Abantu, we are always on their necks to make sure that they actually meet their targets, they implement those programmes that they are meant to implement within that reporting period,” Moyo said.
“They came in August, but they are in an accelerated model to make sure that they implement all the activities so that come December, they should have met their target.”
Zimbos Abantu Trust founder and chief executive Tawanda Mushawedu said the organisation was born out of a serious setback he experienced when his mother fell ill and was not able to access medical healthcare on time.
“So basically, one of the reasons why there are issues to do with accessibility is that when the population grows, the social infrastructure does not grow at the same speed as the population,” he said.
“Our mission says that we are trying to cut the distances that the general population travel, but more particularly women and children, to access health services.
“We are trying to satisfy SDG3 that speaks to access to quality healthcare for everyone leaving no one behind.”
The organisation has been working with NAC since 2023 and has drafted programmes integrating non-communicable diseases with HIV and Aids healthcare.
Mushawedu said since the inception of the programme they had created many jobs in various communities at a time when the country was being riled by a high unemployment rate.
A visit to the facilities witnessed community members visiting the centres to be screened and assisted on their health issues.
At Emganwini, councillor Mpumelelo Moyo applauded the services provided by the organisation and NAC, adding that the community was really happy about it.
“We are really excited about this programme and as you can see people are coming to get health services for free,” he said.
“They are very happy. These people came and advised me of what they wanted to do and as council we sat and saw it proper that they go ahead with the programme.”
In Cowdray Park, Zimbos Abantu community mobiliser Mthabisi Nkala said they had a mobile clinic that focused on NDCs where residents are tested for free.
“We started recently and the response has been overwhelming. We started the programme on August 27 and on the first day we attended to 58 clients and on the second day it was over 50, but the numbers keep on increasing,” he said.
“The community is very happy about the services judging from their attendance in large numbers during the launch of the programme.”
