By Brenna Matendere
Zimbabwe has officially launched Lenacapavir, a significant new addition to the country’s HIV prevention toolkit, marking a major step in expanding access to innovative treatment options.
Speaking at the launch in Epworth on Thursday, Health and Child Care Minister Douglas Mombeshora said the rollout must be inclusive and ensure that no one is left behind.
“Lenacapavir is an important additional prevention option. Individuals must have access to accurate information about benefits, risks, side effects and alternatives so they can choose what is best for them,” he said.
Pictures by Daphne Machiri
He added that pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) services should be integrated into existing sexual and reproductive health, primary healthcare and HIV testing services to improve uptake, ensure continuity, and strengthen the overall health system.
” We must ensure robust clinical guidelines, training for providers, pharmacovigilance, and systems for follow-up and management of adverse events,” he said.
Continued partnership with communities will be essential for demand creation, adherence support, stigma reduction and for designing delivery approaches that work locally.
There must be plans for long-term financing.
Supply chain resilience and the capacity to scale up so that this intervention remains available to those who need it has been noted as essential.
For Harare Metropolitan Province, and in Epworth specifically.
NAC CEO Dr Bernard Madzima said yesterday marked a significant leap forward in the country’s long- standing response against HIV and AIDS and the nation’s unwavering quest to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
“For decades, Zimbabwe has been lauded as an HIV success story on the continent,” he said.
“Through the collective efforts of Government, civic society, people living with HIV and our development partners, we have managed to bring our HIV prevalence down from a staggering peak of over 25% in the early 2000s to 0.9% today.
“We have also achieved remarkable milestones like a high Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) coverage rate and significant progress in eliminating Mother- to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV.
We must as a nation be proud of these achievements.”
Despite this, new HIV infections persist particularly among adolescent girls and young women and key populations, often driven by challenges around consistent adherence to prevention methods and the enduring impact of stigma.
Dr Madzima said the launch represents the dawn of a new era in HIV prevention innovation that brings us closer to achieving epidemic control, and taking us on an irreversible path towards truly ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
“As you are aware, Lenacapavir will be administered just twice a year.
“That means six months of protection against HIV from a single visit to the health centre, thereby addressing the challenges of adherence to use of prevention services.
This wll be particularly significant for young women, who often face power imbalances that make negotiating condom use or daily pilll adherence difficult, key populations, who may face barriers ir accessing regular healthcare and sero-discordant couples and other high-risk groups.
The introduction of Lenacapavir however does not mean abandon our existing prevention tools.
Condoms, Voluntary Male Circumcision (VMMC), and daily oral PrEP remain effective.
Lenacapavir adds to the toolbox and provides choice.
The launch of Lenacapavir coincided with the completion of the new Zimbabwe National HIV_and AIDS Strategic Plan_(ZNASP).
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