Correspondent|THE National Aids Council (NAC) has procured 30 condom dispensers for Midlands State University (MSU) as it escalates the fight against new HIV infections at tertiary institutions.
This comes shortly after the NAC revealed a shocking statistic – almost half of the female students at tertiary institutions either have or will contract HIV during their course of study.
NAC Monitoring and Evaluation Director, Amon Mpofu also revealed that man over the age of 50, informally known as sugar daddies, were the major source of HIV among adolescents and female students in tertiary institutions.
NAC Midlands Provincial Aids Co-ordinator, Mambewu Shumba said: “We have put 21 condom dispensers at MSU and nine more are coming. We are doing this to promote condom use among youths.
“It has been discovered that there are more new HIV infections among people between 15 and 24 years. Most of these students, particularly females, interact with men who are above 50.
“There are various intervention strategies that we have deployed as a province to ensure that we close the tap of HIV. We have reached out to various key populations in the province.”
The National Aids Council has since called for the government to introduce a law which will require compulsory HIV Testing for all prospective couples before they get a marriage certificate.
According to the NAC, almost 50 percent of the female students at tertiary institutions are living with HIV which they contracted during their course of study.
Speaking to Members of Parliament on HIV and Aids in Kadoma, NAC monitoring and evaluation director Amon Mpofu said: “We want pastors and magistrates or any other marriage officers to demand proof of HIV testing from couples intending to get married. We need to protect our children.
“If you look at the statistics we have, there are high cases of new HIV infections among adolescent girls between 15-24 years. We have also observed that about 45 percent of female students in tertiary institutions contract HIV during the course of their studies. Most of them graduate while HIV positive. There has been a 45 percent increase in new HIV infections among female students.
“We have engaged the vice-chancellors in universities after observing that living conditions of our children in tertiary institutions are exposing them to the risk of contracting HIV. They have shown commitment to addressing the issue of accommodation.”