Masvingo Province’s Ngundu Growth Point has been declared the  region’s “Sex City”  – the highest sexually transmitted infections (STIs) zone, the National AIDS Council (NAC) has announced.
Ngundu has become a hub of sex workers due to a hive of business activities mainly by more than 1,000 cross border trucks which pass through that area every day.
Masvingo  provincial  NAC Co-ordinator , Evos Makoni  told  the state media on the  sidelines of a visit to the centre by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health, that his  organisation was engaging on a massive HIV and STI education campaign in the area.
The campaign, he said was aimed at educating the truck drivers and the commercial sex workers to control the spread of STIs.
“Ngundu is the epicentre for STIs and as NAC, we are coordinating a number of activities that are going on at Ngundu. SESHA is working with us helping with treatment. We have different categories in the sex workers, some of them offer their services secretly,” said Makoni.
Former deputy Health Minister, Dr Paul Chimedza said that lack of employment was causing prostitution not only at Ngungu but in various towns and rural settings.
“The nature of this business centre is that there is a lot of movement for people and not much is there to generate income. But as leadership, we need to make sure this is stopped. We are targeting 0% new infections,” Dr Chimedza said.
The parliamentarians took time to listen to the concerns of the sex workers, some of whom narrated how they ended taking up the world’s oldest profession.
SESHA, an AIDS based organisation is also working together with the NAC to empower the sex workers on ways to protect themselves as well as offer treatment.
The sex workers commended the organisations for providing them with information and treatment for STIs.