Fredrick Moyo
National AIDS Council (NAC) Director of Operations Raymond Yekeye said men should be part of health programmes in the country in a bid to fight the spread of diseases like HIV and AIDS.
Speaking during Zimbabwe National First Lady’s Programme on Male Engagement conference held at Masvingo Polytechnic on April 21, 2022 Yekeye said they want men to be part of such programmes and encouraged them to get early treatment so that the spread of disease can be reduced in the country.
“As NAC, we are actually happy to be part of this engagement meeting and we want men to be part of our health programmes in a bid to fight diseases in our country. In most cases we usually worked with females, but we also saw it fit for us to work with males as we seek to stop the spread of diseases and also encourage males to get treatment whenever they feel sick as they tend to ignore any signs of sickness.
“This programme was promulgated by the First Lady looking at what we can do best so that males can be part of the health programmes and Gender Based Violence. Males are coming late for treatment and this give them problems to recover quickly, we have noticed that when males visit clinics or hospitals for treatment, the disease would have already damaged them so we want to encourage them to visit clinics and hospitals frequently,” said Yekeye.
He also said they have programmes that they carryout in the country with different stakeholders and partners in a bid to educate and make people aware that every disease can be cured if treated early.
“We have programmes that we are doing in the country with our partners and stakeholders to encourage and teach people why it is important to get treated early before the disease spreads,” added Yekeye.
Speaking at the same event Masvingo Provincial Medical Director Dr Amadeus Shamhu said men come to clinics for treatment when the disease would have already damaged them and also encouraged people to get early treatment and also go for regular check-ups.
“Men are the ones who are mainly attacked by many diseases as they take many risks including unhealthy diets, tobacco use and harmful use of alcohol and they are vulnerable to diseases but they do not come for treatment and we have seen this happening. When they come for treatment, they come when the disease has spread with the body and it will be difficult to deal with some conditions.
“Some people turn to their cultural beliefs most of the times they get sick and when they fail to get assistance, they will now come to the clinic for treatment but for some diseases it will be too late for them to get treated. So I encourage people to come to the clinic as soon as they are sick and also encourage people to go for regular check-ups and get early treatment,” said Dr Shamhu.
The programme was graced by First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa who was on a two day visit in the province.
