Winning against HIV
This blog post is about data, specifcally HIV data. It is of great interest to us because we want to know if Malawi is winning this fight against HIV and Aids. What does our own data tell us?
In May our counselling team carried out 340 HIV tests:
169 males
171 females
76 tests with partner present
108 were first time tests
232 were repeat tests
176 tests in the 15 to 24 age group
164 tests in the 25 years and above age group
HIV positive 2
105 tests were clients coming to our Songani Centre
235 were clients we reached through outreach activities
This data encourages us. There was a time some years ago when getting males into the counselling room was challenging, now we have gender balance. Only 2 HIV positive results is huge drop from years gone by. These clients were supported and we ensure they get onto ARV therapy. 32% of our testing is people being tested for the first time but repeat testing is important especially for those who have risk factors. 69% of our testing is through outreach in the community.
HIV prevalence rates by district and city.
What is the national picture? The latest data reveals that 990,871 people are living with HIV out of a total population of just over 22 million. Zomba city has the highest HIV prevalence rate in the whole country at 16.2% and Zomba district has the 7th highest at 10.3%. We are strategically placed to tackle this with our centre at Songani, a few miles north of Zomba city and with our commitment to HIV outreach.
Numbers by district and city of those who are HIV positive.
Most HIV counselling provision is from static sites - we at Mbedza remain commited to outreach and taking the testing and counselling to where people.