THE National AIDS Council (NAC) says it remains firmly focused on achieving Zimbabwe’s goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, with a renewed emphasis on maintaining uninterrupted HIV programmes and meeting global treatment targets.
Speaking after the Council’s Annual General Meeting in Harare this Thursday, NAC Board Chairperson, Mrs Nester Mukwehwa, said the organisation is working tirelessly to ensure continued access to life-saving HIV services across the country.
“The top priority for NAC is to achieve our target of ending HIV and AIDS by 2030. Therefore, our main focus is to ensure our programmes remain uninterrupted. These relate to people living with HIV and AIDS, and we are committed to securing continued funding. In terms of our 95-95-95 targets, we are determined to move steadily towards achieving them.
“The main challenge though I would not call it a challenge in the truest sense as it has not significantly disrupted our programmes, is the Trump stop order that resulted in the cessation of certain support we used to receive from the donor community. We have been proactive in absorbing affected activities back into NAC by integrating the human capital from those sections into our structure. For example, some individuals previously engaged through Population Health International have now been brought back onto the NAC payroll to retain the expertise we had acquired,” Mrs Mukwehwa said.
She added that Zimbabwe’s proactive financing mechanisms, including the AIDS Levy and government budgetary support, remain central to sustaining uninterrupted access to antiretroviral treatment and broader HIV services.
She stressed that these domestic resources have become a cornerstone of resilience, allowing the country to maintain its response even amid global funding shifts.
