UNDP as one of the founding co-sponsors of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has a specific and well defined role in the overall response United Nations system to the HIV and AIDS epidemic. UNDP works to address both the causes and impact of the epidemic through building national capacities to mobilize all levels of government and civil society for coordinated, multi-sectoral responses to the epidemic. The organization seeks to address the underlying causes of HIV and AIDS and protect the rights of people affected by AIDS and vulnerable groups. UNDP supports national efforts by offering knowledge, resources and best practices from around the world. UNDP focuses on three service lines; HIV and development, HIV related human rights and gender issues and effective governance of the AIDS response.

In Zimbabwe, the HIV and AIDS epidemic compounded by the socio-economic decline in the country and other natural disasters has had a devastating impact leading to reduced human capacity for effective service delivery. HIV/AIDS affects primarily the productive age groups and its impact is seen in rising numbers of orphans, deepening poverty, reversing human development achievements, aggravating gender inequalities, reducing labour productivity and supply and putting a break to economic growth. With an HIV prevalence of 15.6% among adults 15-49 years (MOH&CW 2007), Zimbabwe has the 4th highest HIV and AIDS prevalence rate in the world. Although the country has started to experience a decline in adult HIV prevalence from 24.6% in 2004, 18.6% in 2006 (MOH&CW, ZDHS 2006) to 15.6% in 2007, the epidemic continues to cause the death of approximately 3 200 persons per week. The decline in prevalence is attributed to changes in behaviour among sexually active adults.

National Priorities

Zimbabwe's priorities on HIV and AIDS are to reduce the spread of infection, improve the quality of life of those infected and mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS. The national priorities are predicated on the Millennium Development Goals - Goal Six: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases. The goal is one of the three MDGs that Zimbabwe has prioritized together with Goal One: Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger and Goal Three: Promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women.

The national response to HIV and AIDS is coordinated through the National AIDS Council (NAC), and guided by the Zimbabwe National HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan (ZNASP) 2006-2010: "From Commitment to Action." The framework seeks to highlight a paradigm shift from policies to goals and results oriented programming in addressing the national multi-sectoral response. National capacity to deal with the pandemic has been severely curtailed as a result of the brain drain and depletion from the pandemic itself in all sectors of the economy.

UNDP Focus

UNDP is supporting the new Inclusive Government of Zimbabwe to mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS on human development in the following focus areas:

• Promoting a multi-sectoral and multilevel response that mainstreams HIV and AIDS into national development policies, plans and programmes;
  
• Assess the impact of HIV and AIDS on the worst affected sectors particularly, health, agriculture and education;
  
• Build capacity of key national institutions in coordinating and implementing the national HIV and AIDS response, in the context of the "Three Ones" principles (One agreed HIV/AIDS Action Framework, One National AIDS Coordinating Authority and One agreed country- level Monitoring and Evaluation System) and increasing programme effectiveness through the UNCT common country programming processes and
  
• Through the Southern Africa Capacity Initiative (SACI) framework re-engineer public sector service delivery in the face of the high HIV and AIDS morbidity and mortality, brain drain and declining socio-economic environment.

The year 2008 was characterised by uncertainties due to the two successive contested elections in March and June which resulted in a political impasse. This negatively impacted the implementation and delivery of UNDP HIV/AIDS related interventions. However, the political dialogue which led to the formation of a new Inclusive Government in February 2009 has opened new opportunities for engagement and scaling up of HIV and AIDS mainstreaming activities in addressing the pandemic and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Current Interventions

• Mainstreaming and integrating HIV and AIDS into Development processes: The programme seeks to broaden the national response through promoting the mainstreaming and integration of HIV and AIDS into development planning processes and strengthening the capacity of sector ministries and the NAC to support the same objective.
• Expanded Support Programme to National HIV and AIDS Response (ESP): UNDP is the Fund Administrator for the multi-donor funded joint programme, the Expanded Support Programmed to scale up access to HIV and AIDS Prevention, Treatment and Care in Zimbabwe
• Study of Sexual Minorities and HIV and AIDS: Sexual minorities in Zimbabwe are still discriminated against and continue to be excluded from HIV/AIDS national interventions.  This is a comprehensive study aimed at attaining a better understanding of the challenges and barriers sexual minorities face in combating HIV/AIDS in order to address the needs of sexual minorities, their associated HIV risk and provide a sound basis for future interventions.

UNCT Theme Group on HIV and AIDS

UNDP chairs the UNCT Theme Group on HIV and AIDS which coordinates the UNCT HIV and AIDS programmes through an HIV and AIDS Technical Working Group (TWG) and development of one integrated work plan.

Challenges

The major challenge facing UNDP operations is sustainability of the national response due to the lack of human resource capacity among national institutions and the unstable socio- economic environment.


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Last updated in May 2009