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Thandeka Moyo, Health Reporter 

THE number of households with at least one member living with HIV and Aids has increased by 12 percent with the recently released Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee report showing that antiretroviral stock outs are forcing some people to default on medication. 

According to the 2019 report, 28.7 percent defaulted on taking the recommended daily ART medication due constant to stock outs in health institutions. 

“There was an increase in the proportion of households with at least one member living with HIV/Aids from 12 percent in 2018 to 27 percent in 2019.  The presence of a member living with a chronic condition is likely to increase the household’s financial burden,” read the ZimVAC report. HIV and Aids and high blood pressure were the most reported chronic conditions in households with 27.4 percent and 24.6 percent respectively. 

“The most reported reasons for missing ART dose included medication being out of stock in health facilities which accounted for 28.7 percent followed by failure to access health facilities at 20.9 percent. Some ART clients could not access treatment because of inadequate transport money to travel to health facilities,” read the report. 

According to ZimVAC, there was also concern over the number of households with members suffering from chronic diseases like arthritis, asthma, diabetes, ulcers, Tuberculosis, cancer and kidney diseases. 

“All provinces had at least 70 percent of their households receiving treatment for the chronic disease reported except for Manicaland province with 62 percent of its households who housed at least one member with a chronic condition receiving treatment,” read the report. 

“Approximately a third, 27.9 percent of households consisting of at least one member living with a chronic condition reported failure to access treatment services. Failure to access treatment services for chronic health conditions was high in Manicaland province which scored 37.9 percent.”  — @thamamoe