ZIMBABWE has run out of sexually transmitted infections (STI) drugs at most health care centers.
Mashonaland East provincial manager Wilfred Dube said the shortage is causing a high recurrence of sexually transmitted infections in the country.
“In the clinics around the country the Ministry (of Health) does not have drugs to treat STIs where three of four drugs are required for treatment the clinic might only get one,” Dube told NewZimbabwe.com in Macheke.
“And then they provide the one dosage before requesting the clients to go and buy from the pharmacy three or four drugs to complement the one that they will have received from the clinic.”
He added: “And usually the clients are not able to go and buy because of the economic environment, they may not be able to get enough money for transport and to go and buy the drugs.”
“So they actually sale the drugs that there are given at the clinic and therefore they are not treated fully.
Commenting on the cases average per month and hotspots in the province, Dube said it is the treatment of STI cases which is not up to scratch
“So the STI recurs when it recurs you cannot then say its new infection but we discovered that each month the number of STI cases is increasing especially in Goromonzi, Murehwa and Marondera. These are the district who have the greatest in terms of STIs.”
The situation is also terrible at Jumbo Mine in Mazowe district Mashonaland Central province where artisanal miners and sex workers have appealed with health service providers to come to their rescue and treat them for STIs.
The two groups raised concerns over the scarcity of medicines to treat ordinary STIs like genital warts.
The other areas in the district that has recorded a high number of STI cases are Caesar Mine, Bare, Nzvimbo and Hermiston Farm.
Hurungwe district in Mashonaland West province has the same challenge topping the list in the province.
In Manicaland the youths top the list with Chipinge district recording the highest in the province.
