Aids takes growing toll in Bulilima

By Tichaona Sibanda

4 August 2006

MDC member of Parliament for Bulilima in Matebeleland South, Moses Mzila-Ndlovu, on Friday said his constituency was facing an unprecedented deathtoll from HIV/Aids because of lack of commitment by Robert Mugabe’s regime to deal with the pandemic. The south-west border constituency is having to bury 100 villagers each week and Mzila-Ndlovu gave a stark warning when he said he doesn’t think authorities in Harare yet realise the terrible situation that has visited rural constituencies.

‘I don’t think the government yet realises the full, incomparable horror of Aids and its inexorable spread around the border constituencies. Unofficially we have set aside Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays as burial days in the constituency,’ Mzila-Ndlovu said.

In this drought prone region Aids seemed far-away, a distant danger haunting big cities. No one in the vast border area ever admitted having HIV/Aids until six years ago when the first victims started dying.

With Aids cases increasing in the most remote outposts of the constituency, the isolated nature of some of those communities may be their downfall, according to the MP.

He said those who thought the isolation would protect them, that the disease was only found in urban areas, now see it cropping up in the smallest villages, far from the nearest clinic, places where the lack of health care means people often wait until they’re very sick to get help.

‘As an MP I’ve learned that late diagnosis mean more transmission and quicker deaths. Because some villages are small and isolated HIV/AIDS could wipe out entire communities if not aggressively addressed,’ said Mzila-Ndlovu.

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