Global AIDS Coordinator Goosby believes Zimbabwe's ailing health system can be strengthened

Sep 9 2009

Concluding his recent trip to Zimbabwe, the Global AIDS Coordinator for PEPFAR Eric Goosby said the country can rebuild and strengthen its health care delivery systems, the Zimbabwean reports. "I have seen fatigue in health care delivery in the country. A fatigue that that has come out of sustaining the response (to HIV and AIDS) with diminishing resources, but at the same time a feeling of hope and anticipation that they have hit bottom and are now on the return," Goosby said (9/4).

As part of his trip, Goosby toured PEPFAR-sponsored programs in Zimbabwe, including a hospital clinic that provides treatment and other programs for HIV-positive patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) and a male circumcision site, the Standard/allAfrica.com reports. "We are anxious to engage with ministries at both the national, provincial and district levels to develop these systems of care that allow for the movement of patients into the system and for those that need more specialised care," Goosby said (Shoko, 9/5).

In related news, Al Jazeera examines the lack of access to antiretroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS patients in Zimbabwe. The video report is part of a series on the stigma of HIV/AIDS (Mutasa, 9/5).