Harare,Zimbabwe (News of the South)- The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) project in strengthening Monitoring and Evaluation capacity for HIV/AIDS which began in 2013 locally concluded on Wednesday in Kadoma with the certification of health officials from across the country.
In its 5 years the program has seen 14 National and provincial health officers partaking in regional trainings, 233 people from provinces inducted in in-country trainings and 269 managers and officers capacitated on District Health Information System.
Speaking at the event resident representantive Mr Shumon Yoshiara said the completion was only a partial fulfillment of a bigger journey.
“I understand the Ministry managed to train and appoint HIV/AIDS focal persons and M&E mentors from all provinces and districts.’
“Also data analysis and utilization capacity at provincial and district level were for improving service delivery.
“For JICA its mission completed as all outcomes of the project were met but for the Ministry, the journey to demonstrate effectiveness and deliver results continues,” he said.
JICA started project ‘Strengthening M&E Capacity for HIV/AIDS Response Programmes’ in 2008 with South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland.
Zimbabwe joined the project in phase 2 between 2013 and 2015.
Zimbabweans continue to experience challenges in combating communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS.
The epidemic continues to be a significant public health problem, placing a tremendous strain on the health sector.
In 2016, approximately 14 percent of the adults in Zimbabwe were living with HIV/AIDS, the sixth highest HIV/AIDS prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa.
Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health and Child Care estimates that 45 percent of women who died of pregnancy-related complications were HIV positive.
Although maternal mortality has declined from 960 deaths per 100,000 live births to 614 deaths per 100,000 live births in recent years, the ratio is still unacceptably high.
Image Courtesy of Health Times
Comments
About Author
