By Tichaona Katsvamutima
Harare’s battle against sexually transmitted infections is facing a troubling age divide, with about 2,000 cases recorded in the first three months of 2026 and health officials identifying older men as sexual partners of some young women caught in the infection chain.
Young people aged between 15 and 24 remain among the groups of concern, despite preliminary figures pointing to a decline in new infections as authorities intensify interventions in HIV and STI hotspots across the capital.
National AIDS Council (NAC) Harare Provincial Manager Adonijah Muzondiwona said approximately 2,000 STI cases were recorded during the first quarter, with only a marginal decline emerging in the following three months.
“We recorded approximately 2,000 cases of STIs in the first quarter. While the second-quarter statistics have shown a marginal decline, these figures remain high for the metropolitan province,” Muzondiwona said.
“We are intensifying our multi-sectoral response to ensure these numbers drop drastically.”
But beyond the headline numbers, follow-ups with people affected by infections have exposed another challenge.
Muzondiwona said investigations into sexual networks showed that partners of many young women appearing in the statistics were older men.
“During our index partner follow-ups, we identified a significant challenge: the partners of many young women in these statistics are predominantly older men,” he said.
The finding has forced health authorities to look beyond interventions targeting young people alone, amid concerns that age-disparate relationships could be contributing to continued transmission.
Muzondiwona said unequal power relations in such relationships could leave younger partners with limited ability to negotiate condom use and other sexual health boundaries.
“Skewed power dynamics in age-disparate relationships often make it difficult for younger adolescents to negotiate health boundaries, which is precisely where we encounter persistent, cyclical HIV and STI transmissions,” he said.
The concern was reinforced this week by NAC board member Tendai Westerhof, who warned that STI infections among young people in Harare remained a pressing problem.
“This is coming at an opportune time where we have a high rise of STIs, particularly in Harare, among young people,” Westerhof said during a tour of NAC health services at the 2026 Harare Agricultural Show.
She said the large numbers of young people seeking information and services presented an opportunity to strengthen prevention efforts.
“It’s an opportunity to empower them with information on how they can live healthy in the face of HIV and AIDS, NCDs, and other emerging diseases that are happening,” Westerhof said.
NAC has responded through community programmes including Sista2Sista and Brotha2Brotha, which use peer networks to reach young people with sexual and reproductive health information and encourage testing and responsible sexual behaviour.
The council is also working with partners including the Zimbabwe Community Health Interventions Research Project (ZICHIRE) and Zimboz Abantu to connect young people with testing, treatment and other health services.
There are, however, indications of improvement.
Preliminary NAC data comparing the first and second quarters of 2026 with the final quarter of 2025 points to a 38 percent reduction in new infections among young people.
“Our grassroots interventions are bearing fruit,” Muzondiwona said.
Health officials caution that increased uptake of testing and treatment can also push reported numbers upwards by identifying infections that might previously have gone undiagnosed.
NAC has meanwhile expanded its community approach beyond HIV and STIs, integrating screening for conditions including diabetes, hypertension and prostate cancer.
Healthcare expert Dr Beatrice Lupwa said early HIV testing and effective treatment remained critical, particularly in achieving viral suppression among people living with HIV.
“With quick intervention of ARVs, you’ll see that the viral load will go really down,” Lupwa said.
Despite signs of improvement, the first-quarter STI figures and evidence emerging from partner tracing suggest Harare’s challenge extends beyond simply persuading young people to change their behaviour.
The emerging question for health authorities is whether prevention programmes can effectively reach the wider sexual networks — including older partners — that may be sustaining transmission among the capital’s young population.
