Zimbabwe faces the challenge of sustaining HIV gains among young people as falling infection rates contrast with concerns that some underestimate the virus.
When Shaun Moyo started nursing at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare in the late 1990s, funerals formed a familiar part of everyday life. Nearly three decades later, antiretroviral treatment has transformed those outcomes, according to Al Jazeera.
Annual new HIV infections dropped from 79,000 in 2010 to 15,000 in 2023, based on UNAIDS estimates. Among young people aged 15 to 24, infections fell from 27,000 to 4,400 over the same period.
Yet health workers warn that widespread access to treatment has dulled the perceived risk of infection. Dr Misheck Ruwende, a Zimbabwean family physician and advocate for reducing HIV stigma, warned in a public address on Twitter in September, followed online by Al Jazeera, that the country risked losing its hard-won gains.
“The sad part is that this is coming at a time we have the best options to prevent HIV, from rapid testing, PrEP, condoms, PEP to injectables,” Ruwende said.
Generational Shift in Risk
For Moyo, now a 48-year-old nurse working locum shifts at two major public hospitals in Harare, the contrast in attitudes remains stark. She worries that younger generations do not fully appreciate the consequences of contracting the virus.
“Seeing today’s youth who are blessed with condoms, ARVs and PrEP meds makes me furious,” Moyo told Al Jazeera. “In the 90s every weekend was a trek to cemeteries, not weddings.”
According to data from UNAIDS, 210,000 girls and young women between the ages of 15 and 24 contracted HIV globally throughout 2023. About 160,000 of those infections occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, with nearly 60 percent of the global total concentrated in Eastern and Southern Africa.
South Africa shares a heavy regional burden, with UNAIDS estimating 7.7 million people living with the virus there in 2023. Data from Gauteng province show that between April and December 2023, 67,400 males were treated for Male Urethritis Syndrome out of 167,109 clinic attendees, with provincial incidence rising from 12 percent in 2020 to 15 percent in 2023.
“Beating the old drum about the horrors of HIV, and shouting to youths about condoms is not necessarily going to cut it,” Bekker told Al Jazeera.
Decentralized Outreach Efforts
Funding pressures have added friction to prevention efforts. In March 2025, UNAIDS said that services for key populations had been impacted by interruptions to HIV initiatives supported by the United States in Zimbabwe.
To bypass clinic-based intimidation, peer educators are taking services directly to communities. Angela Gutu, a 23-year-old peer educator in Harare, helps organize pop-up health services at transport hubs, markets, and sporting events in collaboration with the Harare municipality and the health ministry.
“It’s about speaking young people’s lingo, taking away the HIV stigma,” Gutu told Al Jazeera.
At an August meeting covered by Al Jazeera, Dr Innocent Hove, Provincial Medical Officer for Harare Metropolitan Province, said that tackling HIV among young people is an urgent priority. The government is decentralizing services such as PrEP, testing, and treatment while deploying mobile healthcare trucks to remote mining communities.
Bongani, a volunteer peer educator joining the health ministry’s programme in January, views the current generation’s access to prevention tools as both an advantage and a responsibility.
“My generation was born with the best array of HIV prevention tools,” Bongani told Al Jazeera. “It’ll be a tragedy if AIDS deaths make a dramatic comeback due to our reckless behaviours.”
Common Questions About HIV Prevention in Zimbabwe
What caused the decline in HIV infections in Zimbabwe?
National scale-ups of antiretroviral treatment, alongside prevention tools like condoms and pre-exposure prophylaxis, drove annual new infections down from 79,000 in 2010 to 15,000 in 2023, according to UNAIDS.
How are health workers reaching young people outside clinics?
Peer educators and mobile health teams operate pop-up clinics at markets, transport hubs, and sports events to distribute self-testing kits and condoms without the intimidation of formal facilities.
What impact did funding disruptions have on the response?
UNAIDS reported in March 2025 that disruptions to US-funded HIV programmes in Zimbabwe affected local services for key populations, including counseling and PrEP access.
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