MARTIN MAWAYA
GWERU-The Midlands Province recorded 71 school drop outs due to marriage and pregnancy during the first quarter of the year, the National AIDS Council (NAC) report reveals.
Speaking during a stakeholders meeting in Gweru, Provincial Monitoring and Evaluation Officer Josiah Machakata said 14 learners at primary level and 23 learners at secondary level dropped out of school as a result of pregnancy.
Whilst one learner from primary level and 33 students from secondary level also dropped out due to marriage.
“Generally, more boys than girls are receiving life skills, sexuality and HIV/AIDS education. 262 284 male learners and 193 877 female learners were reached through comprehensive sexual education in Midlands Province schools.
“Seventy-one students dropped out of school due to marriage and pregnancy. Lack of school fees was largely contributing to school dropouts and Guidance and Counseling (G&C) is contributing to increased knowledge and awareness of sexuality and HIV/AIDS related issues,” he said.
Machakata said 6 294 Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) aged 15-24 in Gweru urban, Vungu and Zibagwe have been reached with educational subsidies through the DREAMS project, although 233 dropped out of school.
He added that “there is a high demand for HIV counseling and testing, family planning and STI screening and treatment services by the students in tertiary institutions”.
NAC report also indicated that 2 930 sex workers in the province were reached, of which 932 were tested for HIV and 48 tested positive, with 30 and 350 initiated on PrEP and on ART respectively.
On child abuse cases, the first quarter of the year report red flagged Gweru urban and Vungu districts as having the highest number of cases, whilst Mberengwa has the lowest number of cases.
Gweru Urban topped with 78 emotional abuse cases followed by Vungu with 37 sexual abuse cases and 32 physical cases, whilst Mberengwa was the least with 2 sexual, 1 physical and 3 emotional abuse cases.
The report highlighted that the abuse cases might be as a result of “presence of tertiary institutions, artisanal mining activities as well as parents/ guardians absence or under reporting”.
In the first quarter of 2023, the Province also recorded 30 % increase in gender sexual abuse cases as compared to 24,1% the previous year, whilst physical and emotional abuse cases declined in 2023 with 25,8% from 30% and 26,7% from 29,6% in 2022.
Harmful practices abuse case picked to 0,3 in 2023.
