ZIMBABWE – HARARE (THE HERALD) - DANDARA Clinic in Murehwa on Friday received laboratory equipment to help monitor HIV and AIDS patients taking anti-retroviral drugs.
The equipment was donated by Fima Enterprises and consists of a full blood count and haematology CD4 count machine worth 13 000 euros.
Fima Enterprises presented the equipment to the Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr David Parirenyatwa, who is the Member of Parliament for Murehwa North.
Dr Parirenyatwa welcomed the donations saying it was a major development for Murehwa district as a whole.
"The people of Murehwa used to walk long distances for their HIV tests, but with the coming of these machines, people will save in terms of expenses because it is being done in their locality," said Dr Parirenyatwa.
He said the availability of the machines had a great impact on the people of Murehwa as they could now afford to be tested locally.
Sister Haji of the Opportunistic Infections Clinic at Dandara said the coming of the machines was a great relief to people not only of Murehwa, but for Africa as a whole as it was rare to find the full blood count and CD4 count machines in remote areas.
Zimbabwe is one of the countries in the forefront of the fight against HIV and AIDS in Africa.
The country's HIV and AIDS prevalence rate dropped from 18 percent to 15 percent last year.
Since the pandemic was declared a national disaster, the Government has committed more resources to the reduction of HIV and AIDS cases.
However, there is an acute shortage of anti-retroviral drugs.