CDC in Zimbabwe: Building on HIV Work to Strengthen Labs, Records and Outbreak Response

CDC opened its Zimbabwe office in 2000. It works with the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) and other partners to build public health systems that can detect, prevent and respond to threats — using the partnerships built through its HIV work to strengthen the whole health system, respond to outbreaks and improve global health security. The aim is both to protect Americans and to support public health worldwide.

Clients receive services at an outreach event. CDC

Key accomplishments

• helped build and roll out a national electronic health record system, supporting patient care and surveillance of HIV and other infections;
• scaled HIV viral load testing to over a million tests a year, so everyone on antiretroviral therapy can have their treatment monitored;
• set up the Frontline Field Epidemiology Program, training scientists to prevent, detect and respond to threats, including better border surveillance;
• helped Zimbabwe respond to monkeypox, polio and cholera;
• set up real-time water quality monitoring in two of the country's largest cities to head off cholera and other waterborne outbreaks;
• supported the introduction of long-acting HIV prevention medicines for people at risk.

Laboratories

Fifteen public health labs — including the national microbiology and TB reference labs — have earned ISO 15189 accreditation. A national external quality assessment program and a national calibration center have been set up, and an integrated sample transport network, linked to an electronic laboratory information system, gets results back to clinicians faster.

Health records and surveillance

The integrated electronic health record (E-HR) combines pharmacy, laboratory and clinical data for better patient care, and gives public health officials more timely, complete data on HIV and other infections. CDC supports using those data to direct programs and resources to the people who need them most — helping Zimbabwe maintain HIV epidemic control and respond to new threats.

Workforce

• CDC is advising on the creation of a National Public Health Institute to lead and coordinate core public health functions nationwide.
• Zimbabwe's Field Epidemiology Training Program, founded in 1993, trains frontline "disease detectives" in surveillance, data analysis and outbreak response — including at ports of entry.

HIV and TB

As a key implementer of the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), CDC supports HIV testing, treatment and prevention and works with partners on TB diagnosis, treatment and prevention — strengthening Zimbabwe's ability to control these diseases and reducing the risk of their reaching the U.S. More: CDC's HIV and TB work in Zimbabwe.

Cervical cancer

HIV is an important risk factor for cervical cancer: women living with HIV are up to 5 times more likely to develop it. CDC is expanding screening and treatment for women 25 and older with a test–triage–treat approach that includes human papillomavirus DNA testing for earlier detection.

More

Zimbabwe fact sheet (PDF) · Emerging Infectious Diseases articles on Zimbabwe · Travelers' Health: Zimbabwe · U.S. Embassy in Zimbabwe

Sources

Based on "CDC in Zimbabwe," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain.