Co-ordinating the multi-sectoral response to HIV and AIDS.
Start small, stay steady Rome wasn't built in a day
National AIDS Council of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe National Network of People Living with HIV
Tindo Phiri
10/06/2026
NEWS |
Protecting girls, protecting babies, protecting futures
BULAWAYO – For years, pregnancy quietly closed the classroom door on thousands of Zimbabwean girls. A positive pregnancy test often meant the end of an education, the collapse of future ambitions, and, for many, increased vulnerability to poverty, social exclusion, and poor health outcomes.
Now, Zimbabwe is attempting to rewrite that story.
In a significant shift that is challenging long-held social attitudes, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MOPSE), working alongside the National AIDS Council (NAC), is driving a nationwide effort to ensure that pregnancy no longer ends a girl's right to learn.
At the center of that transformation is Circular Number 18, a policy that guarantees pregnant learners and teenage mothers the right to remain in school or return to the classroom after giving birth.
The initiative is doing more than keeping girls in school. Authorities say it is becoming an important weapon in the country's fight against HIV, helping connect vulnerable adolescents to critical sexual and reproductive health services while protecting the health of both mothers and babies.
But changing policy has required changing mindsets.
Bulawayo Schools Inspector for Guidance and Counseling Memory Phiri said the introduction of the policy was initially met with resistance from communities where cultural beliefs often viewed pregnancy as incompatible with continued school
"When Circular Number 18 was introduced, there was initially some resistance. Culturally, many people were not accustomed to the idea of pregnant learners continuing their education alongside other students in mainstream schools," Phiri said.
Yet what was once controversial is increasingly becoming accepted.
Across schools, Child Protection Committees, guidance and counseling departments, and education officials are working to ensure that vulnerable learners remain connected to the education system rather than disappearing from it.
The results, officials say, are becoming impossible to ignore.
"We have clearly seen the positive impact of the circular. In the past, many learners who fell pregnant would leave school permanently and never return. Today, however, we are witnessing more learners coming back to school and continuing with their education," Phiri said.
For the government, the issue extends beyond education.
Every teenage pregnancy carries important health implications, particularly in a country that continues to battle HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women.
That is where the National AIDS Council has become a critical partner.
NAC Bulawayo Provincial Manager Sinatra Nyathi said pregnant adolescents who present themselves at health facilities are enrolled in the prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) programmes, ensuring that both mother and child receive essential care and support.
"I am pleased to say that many teenage mothers are registering their pregnancies early and accessing PMTCT services, which are critical in preventing HIV transmission from mother to child," Nyathi said.
Health officials say keeping teenage mothers engaged with health services can be the difference between an HIV-free birth and a preventable infection.
Nyathi revealed that more than 2,500 pregnancies among girls under the age of 19 were recorded last year, a figure that underscores the scale of the challenge facing both the education and health sectors.
"When I think about those 2,500 pregnancies, I am reminded of the importance of preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Every child deserves a healthy start to life," he said.
The council is now intensifying awareness campaigns, family engagement programs, and community-based interventions aimed at ensuring that pregnant adolescents receive support rather than rejection.
The goal, officials say, is not only to protect young mothers but also to prevent a new generation of HIV infections.
At Mawaba Primary School in Bulawayo, the impact of that approach can already be measured in individual lives.
Headmistress Nokuthula Sibanda recalls a learner who fell pregnant in 2020. Rather than allowing the pregnancy to end the child's education, the school worked to ensure she remained on an educational pathway.
"We worked closely with the learner to ensure that her education continued despite the circumstances. She went on to give birth and was later enrolled at a secondary school, where she proceeded with her studies in Form One," Sibanda said.
The school has not recorded another child pregnancy case since then, a development Sibanda attributes to sustained guidance programs and partnerships with healthcare professionals who provide learners with information on health, protection, and personal development.
Taken together, the stories emerging from classrooms and clinics point to a broader national shift.
What was once treated as a reason for exclusion is increasingly being treated as a call for protection, support, and intervention.
Education officials are working to keep girls in school. Health authorities are working to keep mothers and babies HIV free. Child protection structures are working to shield learners from stigma, bullying, and isolation.
For policymakers, the objective is straightforward but profound: ensure that one life-changing event does not permanently derail another life.
In the process, Zimbabwe is advancing a message that reaches far beyond the classroom that pregnancy may alter a young person's journey, but it should not determine their future.
And for thousands of girls navigating some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives, that message could prove transformative.
Reporting by Anesu Masamvu
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BULAWAYO
I National AIDS Council yethule ukuthi:
1. Kulabantu abafika 76 608 abaphila le gcikwane le HIV ko Bulawayo
2. Kulabantu abangu 946 ababhubha ngemikhuhlane ephathelane le AIDS ngomnyaka ka 2024.
3. Inani labantu abathola igcikwane le HIV liyehla koBulawayo nxa kuqathaniswa le nani lelizwe.
4. Kunjalo nje ko Bulawayo kulabasakhulayo abafika 3,713 abaleminyaka yokuzalwa ephakathi kwe 15 le 24 abaphila legcikwane le HIV.
I Bulawayo yenelise ukufinyelela yadlula ku target eye 95-95-95.
Abantu abadala abako Bulawayo benza kuhle nxa kukhangelwa ukuhlolwa i gcikwane lokwelatshwa.
Kusenjalo iNAC ilenhlelo ezitshiyeneyo ezibalisela i Sister2Sister, Brother2Brother, iDREAMS lezinye eziphathisa ekulwisaneni i HIV osekwenze inani lezimfa eziphathelene lomkhuhlane weAIDS zehle kanye lokwehlisa ukuthelelwana kwegcikwane le HIV.
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NEWS | *Tears, relief, and hope at Bulawayo mobile clinic*
BULAWAYO – Three nurses held him carefully as they lifted his frail body out of the vehicle and guided him into the mobile clinic stationed at eBusteni in Cowdray Park.
His wife, 48-year-old Dzamisai Chipepera, walked closely beside him, anxious and exhausted after spending a week watching her husband deteriorate at home without treatment because they could not afford consultation fees or transport costs to a conventional health facility.
For Chipepera, the scene unfolding before her inside the mobile healthcare facility was one she says she had almost stopped believing was possible in Zimbabwe’s strained public healthcare environment.
“I came here today with my husband because he is not feeling well. I was received very well, and I was not expecting it,” she said.
“I was worried about who was going to help me with my husband because I came alone, but two workers quickly came to assist me. They helped each other carry him inside, and he got the help he needed.”
What struck her most was not only the speed with which healthcare workers responded, but the dignity with which they handled a man too weak to help himself.
“The doctor was here, asked him some questions, and attended to him. I thought I was going to wait in a queue, as we see in some hospitals, to the extent that some people end up dying while waiting in line,” she said.
“You end up feeling sad for the person you have brought for medical attention, but I did not see that here.”
Her husband had gone an entire week without proper medical attention because the family could not afford the fees required at local facilities.
“A whole week, and I could not afford the fees to get his clinic card stamped,” she said.
That reality, where financially vulnerable households delay seeking treatment until conditions become critical, is precisely the gap Zimbabwe’s growing mobile healthcare model is trying to close.
During a media tour organised by the National AIDS Council (NAC), journalists witnessed firsthand how healthcare on wheels is transforming access to medical services in some of Bulawayo’s most underserved communities.
Stationed at eBusteni in Cowdray Park, the mobile clinic operated by Zimbos Abantu Healthcare on Wheels has become a critical access point for residents who would otherwise struggle to reach conventional health facilities because of distance, transport costs or consultation fees.
Inside the compact but fully functional mobile unit, residents moved steadily between consultations, screening services, and treatment points, while healthcare workers attended to patients with clinical efficiency rarely associated with temporary outreach facilities.
For Chipepera, the experience fundamentally altered her perception of what mobile healthcare could achieve.
“When I arrived, I saw a lot of people and thought the line was too long. I wondered what I was going to do, but I was surprised by how quickly they attended to him,” she said.
“Even he himself seemed to be feeling better, even though he was still unwell. It was because of the way the nurses and doctors were treating him. I did not see them showing any disgust towards him.”
Her relief became even more apparent when discussing something many patients often take for granted, access to a doctor’s prescription.
“What I believe is most important is the doctor’s prescription. A lot of people are dying in their homes because they do not have prescriptions,” she said.
“If you do not have a prescription, you can not buy medicine over the counter. The prescription is very important, and they gave it to me. I can now go and buy the medication.”
She said the service removed financial barriers that had kept her husband untreated for days.
“The way he was attended to, even his clinical card, I was not asked to pay for it. It was stamped for free first,” she said.
“They first wrote his medication prescription, and what they did not have is what they then go and buy.”
In communities where many households survive on fragile incomes, healthcare expenses often compete directly with food, rent, and transport costs. For some families, simply traveling to a clinic can become an impossible expense.
Chipepera said neighbors had encouraged her to bring her husband to the mobile clinic after hearing about the services being offered there.
“They told me I should just look for transport money and bring him here. They said people are medically assisted here, and they get better,” she said.
“I have now seen it for myself.”
Her husband still needed injections and medication, but for the first time in a week, she said she felt hopeful.
“He has not yet started taking his medication, but I am happy, and I have faith that he will be fine,” she said.
“Even the driver of the car we came with asked if we had already been attended to, and I said yes. He asked, ‘With that long queue?’ and I said yes.”
The mobile healthcare initiative is being implemented through a partnership between Zimbos Abantu Healthcare on Wheels and the National AIDS Council under NAC’s social contracting program funded through the AIDS Levy.
Zimbos Abantu Healthcare on Wheels chief executive officer Tawanda Mushawedu said the intervention was designed around four critical pillars: accessibility, affordability, quality healthcare, and inclusivity.
“We are a healthcare service provider offering primary healthcare through mobile clinics,” Mushawedu said.
“We are pleased to have started operations in 2021, and we now have 12 mobile clinics.”
He said many communities remain underserved and located far from public health institutions, forcing residents to travel long distances or abandon seeking treatment altogether.
“We are filling that gap while also focusing on affordability by providing cost-effective healthcare services within these communities,” he said.
“At the moment, services in Cowdray Park are being subsidised by the National AIDS Council through the AIDS Levy.”
According to Mushawedu, the intervention is also reducing transport costs for vulnerable families, many of whom previously had to spend up to US$2 on a one-way trip to access healthcare services.
“Our mobile clinics are meant to bridge that gap, helping households save money while also providing free medical services and medical devices to the communities we serve,” he said.
The scale of the program’s reach is already becoming visible.
Mushawedu said more than 10,800 patients have received free medical consultations in the past nine months alone, while over 8,000 people have undergone free blood pressure screening.
The program has also provided STI screening services to more than 600 patients, prostate cancer screening to close to 500 men, and rapid blood sugar tests to more than 6,600 beneficiaries.
“In Bulawayo, we are currently operating in Cowdray Park and Emganwini,” Mushawedu said.
“Beyond Bulawayo, we also have operations in Harare and parts of Mashonaland East.”
For residents like Chipepera, however, the statistics only tell part of the story.
The real measure of the programme’s impact is found in moments such as the one witnessed at eBusteni, where healthcare workers gently carried a critically ill man into a mobile clinic while his wife watched in disbelief that help had finally arrived.
Some residents may still question whether healthcare delivered from a vehicle can match conventional hospitals, but Chipepera has already formed her own conclusion.
“It is actually more helpful than a building,” she said.
“I got my prescription here for free, so the prescription is very, very important.”
_Reporting by_ *Anesu Masamvu in Bulawayo*