Masvingo, Chiredzi Sees spike in Sexually Transmitted Infections in Adolescent Girls during COVID-19
As government continues to ease COVID-19 restrictions, health institutions in Masvingo urban and Chiredzi district have started witnessing a surge in Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) amongst young girls aged between 13 and 24 years.
By Michael Gwarisa (Health Times) in Masvingo (30 September 2020)
The increase in new STI infections according to the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC), has been driven largely by travel and tight lockdown restrictions which characterized the initial stages of the lockdown period, a period where access to Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services was disrupted.
In an interview on the side-lines of a Media Tour on Assessing the impact of COVID 19 on access to SRH by young people in Masvingo province, Sister in Charge, ZNFPC Masvingo, Sister Vongai Mushoho told the Health Times online publication that majority of cases were recorded from July to date as most young people are now able to visit the clinic for assistance.
“In May we recorded one case, June one again, in July we recorded four STI cases and another four in August. In September, we recorded seven STI and this indicates that we could record more cases in the coming months since restrictions have now been eased and people can now visit health institutions more” said Sister Mushosho.
“During the lockdown period, we noticed that COVID-19 was a new thing to everyone including us the nursing staff as we were afraid of catching the virus, the clients were also scared too. I remember when we were first told about COVID-19, we were told that we were going to close the clinic. Most of our referral cases for youths come from colleges and tertiary institutions that are around us. Because of the road blocks that were there in the first two weeks, we had very few clients that came in. With the easing off of the restrictions, we have seen the client flow improving,” said Sister Mushosho.
In Chiredzi, young girls as young as 15 years are amongst those visiting healthcare centers in particular the ZNFPC Tshovani Youth Centre seeking STI treatment. Speaking to The Health Times publication, Tshovani Youth Centre Youth Facilitator, Mrs Lindiwe Ndoda said younger girls within the age range of 14 and 24 were coming through for STI treatment and the numbers have increased during the lockdown period.
“During the lockdown, young people could not access services from the centre because of the restrictions of movement. However, there were young people who came to my inbox who were infected with STI and I managed to refer them to the hospital where they managed to get assistance from the local clinics and well as the health centre. During this era it shows that young people were actually engaging in sex. They have remained active and from the mobile clinics that we conducted, we managed to treat many clients who reported that they had STI” said Ndoda.
Meanwhile, ZNFPC Masvingo Provincial Manager, Mr Peter Vhoko commended Plan International and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) for assisting the organization in managing SRH particularly focusing on adolescents and young people.
“Through Plan International, we were able to do mobile clinics where we reached 11 people who were inserted Jadelle and I am just talking about young people and three removals during the lockdown period. We also injected Depo provera to 18 young people, Combined Oral Contraceptives (COC) 43, we provided Progesterone-Only Pill (POP), we provided 12, Implanon four, Intrauterine device (IUCD) we managed one removal.
“We distributed 9000 Male condoms just through the mobile clinics and 220 female condoms. On HIV and AIDS, we tested 121 young people and out of that number, 116 were negative and five were positive and of those who were positive, we managed to refer them for further services. Through these mobile clinics again, we managed to treat 17 females of STIs and two males,” said Mr Vhoko.
The ZNFPC Masvingo also managed to distribute 648 sanitary wear and through the mobile clinics they also shared SHR information to people most young people. They also used various media outlets and platforms do disseminate SRH and COVID-19 related information.