By Flata Kavinga
National AIDS Council Midlands provincial manager Mambewu Shumba says programmes targeting adolescent girls and young women are helping to improve self-sufficiency while strengthening HIV prevention efforts in communities.
He said this during an interview with journalists on the sidelines of a handover ceremony at Amaveni Hall in Kwekwe, where Midlands Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Owen Ncube distributed smartphones to Kwekwe district headmen, 41 Starlink kits to junior parliamentarian schools, and bicycles together with non-communicable disease equipment to HIV support groups.
Shumba said the council’s “Sister-to-Sister” initiative focuses on adolescent girls and young women aged 16 to 24, who are organised into small groups and guided by trained mentors. The programme provides sessions on HIV and AIDS awareness, prevention, sexual and reproductive health, and life skills.
According to Shumba, the initiative also integrates economic empowerment to help participants become self-reliant. He said beneficiaries are being equipped with practical skills and resources, including sewing machines, to enable income-generating activities.
“We realised that after receiving information and life-skills training, some young women remained idle in their communities, so providing tools such as sewing machines helps them stay engaged and earn a living,” he said.
Shumba added that bicycles distributed to community behaviour-change mobilisers would improve outreach to remote areas, allowing them to deliver prevention messages and link residents to health services more effectively.
He also said the council had provided NCD screening equipment to support community-level health checks, including screening for conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes, in line with the primary health-care approach.
The interventions, he said, are being implemented across several districts, including Gokwe North, Gokwe South, Gweru and Zvishavane, with the aim of reducing vulnerability among young women while strengthening the broader HIV response in the Midlands Province.
The handover formed part of wider social and health support initiatives taking place in Midlands province.
