Thanks to partners such as Barclays Spaces for Sports, Nike, Comic Relief, Rational Games, and Johnson & Johnson, GRS Zimbabwe is rapidly growing, including new testing and referral programs. As the Director of Health and Local Partnership, Mthokozisi “Doc” Ndiweni, MD is leading the development of this new initiative.
As a medical doctor and sports physician by training, Doc has worked with children living with HIV in the Mpilo Hospital and has helped a number of HIV+ parents and children in his community access anti-retroviral treatment. His clinical background and experience in patient care, along with his ties to the local medical community in Bulawayo, give him a unique understanding of both the challenges and opportunities inherent in introducing a testing and referral component to our GRS Zimbabwe programs.
His dream is “to see an integrated process where people undergo health education with a particular bias to behavior change, access to voluntary counseling and testing, anti-retroviral treatment, and legal services in one setting.” In a recent interview below, Doc offered more insight into the need for this move to testing and referrals, the process of getting it off the ground, and the potential impact on the community.
What do you think the implementation of HIV testing as part of the GRS Zimbabwe programs will mean for the community?
This is a huge step. My dream has always been to see an integrated and friendly approach to fighting HIV and AIDS. Having stayed with the people in the townships during my internship as a doctor opened my eyes. I met a lot of people who were HIV+. People were scared to test. What was worse for me, though, was that those who tested positive were let down by the system in the hospitals or preferred traditional healers. This made me curious as to why. The answer was simple: Traditional healers were more friendly and gave people hope, and most importantly a person did not have to go from one room to the other before being attended to. People do not want to go to hospitals. Voluntary Counseling and Testing events (VCTs) offer a unique model which provide these services outside of the health center and make them a normal part of healthy living. Testing will offer a new hope and bridge the critical gap in HIV prevention. This is a huge step in the right direction for the Zimbabwean community.
“We take away the perception that testing is for sick people by offering it during an activity like soccer which is associated with being healthy. Testing is brought to people’s doorsteps and therefore bottlenecks to accessing these services are removed.”
How has the process of finding testing partners been?
The process of finding partners has been a period of excitement and learning. We had open discussions with partners about VCTs and what they entail. Partners were excited by the idea and most were raring to go after the first meeting because VCTs were in line with their objectives. We had a few questions around handling issues of stigma and how we were going to manage that during the events. After a recent visit to the GRS Zambia program to learn from their model, we were able to answer most of these questions. The response from partners has been overwhelmingly positive.
What will happen with the students who are found to be HIV+?
Students that test positive will be referred to treatment and follow up. During discussions with one of the partners we learned that many HIV+ adolescents are rebelling against treatment as a result of failing to cope with their status and the associated stigma. We are developing a program to support these HIV+ youth in coping with their status and living positively. We plan to learn from our colleagues at GRS Malawi, who run a similar program.
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