Zimbabweans returning from South Africa while receiving HIV treatment will be given immediate access to antiretroviral medicines to prevent interruptions in care, the government has said, as the country records an increase in cross-border arrivals.
The measures follow protests against immigrants in South Africa on 30 June, which have prompted growing numbers of Zimbabweans to return home.
Responding to questions in the National Assembly on Thursday, Health and Child Care Minister Douglas Mombeshora said health workers had been deployed at ports of entry to screen returnees and identify those living with chronic conditions, including HIV, diabetes and hypertension.
“We have put in place our health workers at the ports of entry to make sure that every returnee is being screened, from adults to children. So far, we have screened over 99 000 Zimbabweans,” Mombeshora said.
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He said health officials were also screening travellers returning to Malawi and Zambia to help prevent the spread of communicable diseases across borders.
The issue was raised by Mutsa Murombedzi, who asked how the government planned to integrate returnees into Zimbabwe’s health system, ensure uninterrupted HIV treatment, maintain adequate supplies of antiretroviral drugs and coordinate with neighbouring countries.
Mombeshora said health workers were assessing all returnees to establish whether they were receiving treatment for chronic illnesses.
“We are interrogating every returnee whether they are on any chronic illnesses, specifically HIV, diabetes and hypertension,” he said.
“Some of the returnees will tell you that they have been on treatment, but when they left, they also left some of their treatments.”
He said clinics at ports of entry could provide medication for up to five days before patients were referred to health facilities in the districts where they intended to settle.
“We can provide treatment for at least five days because we want all those returnees to go to the respective areas where they are staying so that they can be registered in the districts where they will be staying and they will start receiving their treatment on a long-term basis,” Mombeshora said.
He said long-term treatment could not begin immediately at border posts because patients first needed baseline assessments, including viral load tests, before being enrolled in Zimbabwe’s treatment programme.
“We are not able to institute long-term treatment on their arrival because we need to first take baseline tests, like viral load and things like that, which cannot be done at the port of entry at the moment,” he said.
During supplementary questions, MP Leslie Mhangwa asked whether HIV treatment regimens used in Zimbabwe and South Africa were compatible.
Mombeshora said the two countries generally used the same antiretroviral medicines but differed in how patients were placed on first-, second- and third-line treatment.
“Countries may decide on which ones to put on first-line treatment, second-line treatment and third-line treatment,” he said.
He said health workers first needed to establish what medication each returnee had been taking before transitioning them to Zimbabwe’s treatment guidelines.
“When we start them on our own regimes, we really have to monitor and do a series of tests to make sure that they are now compatible with those treatments,” Mombeshora said.
Meanwhile, MP Darlington Chigumbu asked whether the ministry was using technology or predictive models to help clinicians determine treatment compatibility for returning patients.
Mombeshora said Zimbabwe did not currently have such systems.
“The short answer is no, we do not have those models. When certain things happen, when you are not prepared for them, it is us now to think and say how we deal with such cases if they arise in the future,” he said.
The minister said the measures were intended to ensure that people living with HIV and other chronic illnesses continued receiving treatment without interruption as they were integrated into Zimbabwe’s public health system.
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