Zimbabwe is among the top five high HIV burden countries and has adopted voluntary medical male circumcision (VMCC) as an intervention to reduce the incidence of HIV. Manicaland province which started the VMCC programme in 2009 only managed to achieve 8958(70%) minimum target for the year despite increased demand creation efforts. The current study sought to identify factors determining uptake of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision for HIV prevention among males aged 15 to 29 years in Manicaland province 2014. A 1:1 unmatched case- control study was conducted using systematically sampled 95 cases and 95 controls. Participant circumcision status was confirmed by a nurse trained in VMCC. Data was collected through interview schedules and key informant interviews of health workers involved in VMMC. Factors influencing uptake of VMMC in Manicaland were prior knowledge on the benefits of Medical Male circumcision (AOR=2.91: 95% CI=1.48 - 5.71: p=0.002) and staying within 15 kilometers from a circumcising Centre (AOR=3.37: 95% CI= 1.59 - 7.12: p=0.002). Fear of surgical complications, pain, infection, bleeding and other complications (AOR=0.43: 95% CI=0.22 - 0.84: p=0.013) and fear of HIV test before the procedure (AOR=0.41: 95% CI=0.19 - 0.87: p=0.02) were found to be barriers to uptake of VMMC.The study concludes that knowledge on benefits of MC and male circumcision reduces men’s exposure to HIV infection and distance to male circumcision Centre was within 15 kilometers radius from place of residence facilitates the uptake of VMMC. Distance may impede or enhance utilization of a health service. The further a client is away from a service, the less the utilization of the service. Fear of surgical complications and fear of HIV test before the operation were found to be the barrier to uptake of VMMC. This is because that most of the people they are not aware of their HIV status and Zimbabwe is still struggling to increase HIV testing and counselling coverage both in rural areas and urban areas. Therefore there is need for task shifting, demand creation in VMMC and reduce indirect sources of fears of being diagnosed as HIV positive.

High tuberculosis defaulter rate and lower notification rate are major impediment to effective Control of tuberculosis (TB) in Buhera District. To elucidate factors that associated with high defaulter rate, we conducted an evaluation of TB control programme in the district.A cross sectional study design was used and a program evaluation framework was used to identify inputs, processes, out puts and outcomes of the TB control programme in Buhera district. A total of thirty one healthcare workers who included nurses, Environmental Health Technicians and Laboratory staff, participated in the study. We also reviewed TB records and found that total of 1470 patients were screened for tuberculosis in the year 2012 and 645(43.9%) of the patients were initiated on tuberculosis treatment. One hundred and thirteen (17.5%) of the patients were on Health facility directly observed treatment (DOT), 199(30.9%) were on community DOT and 333(51.6%) were on family DOT. Five hundred and sixteen (80%) of the patients were screened for Human immunodeficiency Virus infection (HIV); 360(69.8%) tested HIV positive and 140(39%) of the patients were initiated on ART. Inadequate staff trained in TB case management impacted negatively on the performance of the program. High defaulter rate due to patients travelling from other districts calls for strengthening of cross district collaboration TB meetings.

Introduction- An outbreak of suspected influenza was detected at Sangano clinic where most of the cases were coming from Mukuwapasi and ST Lukes primary schools which are 4 km and 3km respectively from the clinic. A total of 571 cases were reported and no deaths were reported. The source of infection was not known and this study was done to investigate risk factors associated with contracting the suspected influenza. Methods and Materials- A descriptive cross sectional study design and an unmatched 1:1 case control were conducted where a case was any person who presented with signs and symptoms of flu with or without a viral positive test, but living in the surrounding area of Sangano. A control was any person residing in the same area who did not present the signs and symptoms of suspected influenza during the same period. An interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect data Results- A total of one hundred and ninety six participants (98 cases and 98 controls) were enrolled and the summaries of results are as follows. Risk factors associated with contracting suspected influenza at Sangano clinic include: Sharing a bed with someone with flu symptoms in the past 7 days (OR=2.85: CI=2.241-3.451), having a relative visiting in past 7 days with symptoms of flu (OR=2.93; CI=1.538- 5.434), greeting by shaking hands or hugging any person who was ill within the last 7 days (OR=3.26; CI=1.21 - 10.19), sharing clothes and bedding with a friend(OR=2.16; CI=1.28-7.46) and being a school resident (OR= 4.43; CI= 1.21- 10.19). Discussion and conclusion – It was noted that lower knowledge levels among school children, coughing and sneezing at each other and greeting by shaking hands, hugging promoted the spread of suspected influenza. Health workers lacked skills in managing cases. A study by  (Rabie,2006) also found out that Hand washing has been shown to reduce non-specific respiratory infection risk by 6% to 44% in various settings and was highly effective in preventing transmission of SARS (Fung, 2006).Therefore there is need for Health promotion officer to  health education to school children and community to avoid close contact during outbreaks