Mission Zimbabwe
Mortality infant : 78%
Life expectancy at birth : 36.9
HDI : 0.505
Ranked : 145/177
Actual GDP/inhabitant ($) : 639
Délégations internationales : MdM Spain and MdM Canada
Beneficiaries :
> directly project 1: 350,000 inhabitants of Chipinge district
> indirectly project 1: 30 community health workers in Chipinge
Staff :
> local: 30
> expatriate: 5
Co-ordinators :
> project: C. Moncorgé
> field: F. Azam
> HQ: N. Bréchet
Sources of funding : MdM, EU, HIVOS
Budget : 2005: 486,932 euros
The economic situation in this southern African country is disastrous. Living conditions are increasingly harsh and the impact of the HV/AIDS pandemic is devastating. 26% of the population is HIV-positive. Since the explosion of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, life expectancy has fallen from 52 years in 1990 to 36 years in 2005. A third of the adult population is HIV-positive and each day around a hundred new born infants become HIV-positive. Out of a total population of 12 million inhabitants, there are around 800,000 orphan children. It is estimated that nearly 20% of these are HIV-positive. In addition, 90% of Zimbabweans affected by the virus and requiring antiretroviral treatment do not have access to it.
Reducing the impact of HIV/AIDS
Chipinge
Activities:
After a pilot phase of HIV/AIDS information and prevention which began in May 2004, MdM France, in partnership with MdM Canada, MdM Spain and FACT (a local NGO), is now developing a global approach for the whole of Chipinge district combining:
• community information and awareness;
• running information and screening centres;
• running home assistance services for immobilised HIV-positive patients;
• psychosocial and therapeutic support for orphans and vulnerable children;
• support for the preventive and curative activities of 4 district hospitals and 44 dispensaries (preventing mother-to-child transmission, reducing the incidence of STIs, preventing and treating opportunistic illnesses, setting up and monitoring ARV treatments);
• training staff and community health workers;
• perational analysis of this model designed on a global scale, on a community basis, with a view to expanding and replicating it in other districts, provinces and countries.
Outlook:
In 2006, our teams will work on consolidating our activities and setting up antiretrovirals in Chipinge hospital to bring the possibility of treatment closer to the communities.
July 2006