Zimbabwe has recorded a high number of HIV/AIDS cases among boys aged between 10 and 19, according to latest HIV estimates by National AIDS Council.
Presenting the country’s HIV estimates, National AIDS Council (NAC) National Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator, Isaac Taramusi said adolescent girls constitute the biggest chunk of new HIV infections but boys on the other hand are succumbing to the pandemic the most.
“For adolescents, the key to note is that most of the new infections where we have also 2,700 and almost 2,400 new infections are happening in females. You could see that we are getting also like 300 new infections are happening in males at a disproportionate level. Vice versa, when it comes to deaths, we see that more deaths are happening in male adolescents as compared to girls,” said Taramusi.
He added that there is a need to scale up adolescents’ differentiated care Guidelines models that target adolescents.
According to NAC estimates, 1,142 deaths were recorded among in females in 2016, while in 2017, an estimated 954 deaths were recorded.
In 2018, 2019 and 2020 an estimated 859, 790 and 748 deaths were recorded respectively while in 2021, Zimbabwe recorded an estimated 665 deaths (females.)
This is in contrast to estimated figures for male adolescents with 1,144 deaths recorded in 2016, 944 in 2017 and 856 in 2018. In 2019, an estimated 795 deaths were recorded in 2020 they were 762 and in 2021.
