STIs in Zimbabwe

At-A-Glance 

• STIs are widespread, but underdiagnosed and underreported due to limited testing capacity.  
• Zimbabwe primarily relies on syndromic management (treating symptoms, not testing). This approach often misses asymptomatic infections; leads to over- or mis-treatment and underestimates the true STI burden.  

The Burden

• Zimbabwe faces a high prevalence of curable STIs, including chlamydia, gonorrhea and trichomoniasis. 
• The STI burden among young people (16–24 years) is especially high and linked to: unemployment, lower education, HIV infections and mental health challenges.  

Key Challenges

• Access to STI diagnosis and treatment remains limited. There are often stockouts of STI treatment. Diagnostic tools are often unavailable at primary care level with Syphilis being the only STI consistently tested with widely available diagnostics.  
• Research on STI diagnostics, treatment and management has largely focused on high-risk groups such as youth and female sex workers. While this targeted approach is efficient in resource-constrained settings, it limits understanding of STI burden in the general population and overlooks asymptomatic infections, where complications often go undetected until much later stages. 
• STI programs rely heavily on external funding, but funding cuts have led to: service disruptions, program closures and loss of healthcare workers. 
• HIV dominates public awareness while other STIs remain poorly understood. Stigma and misconceptions lead to self-treatment and delayed care. 
• The health system capacity is weak with limited STI training, few trained providers per facility in some settings, and high workforce turnover. 

Opportunities

• There is an opportunity to expand access to STI diagnostics beyond syndromic management to improve detection, particularly for asymptomatic infections.  
• There is also an opportunity to integrate STI services into HIV programs and youth-focused services to better reach populations with the highest burden.  
• Strengthening domestic investment and supply chains presents an opportunity to reduce stockouts of treatments and reliance on external funding.  
• In addition, increasing community awareness and reducing stigma can improve care-seeking and support earlier diagnosis and treatment. 

Advocacy Partners

The Zimbabwe STI advocacy agenda was developed by national partners including Chido Dziva Chikwari, Constancia Mavidza and Moira Majaha who are bringing together researchers, advocates and community stakeholders to define priorities grounded in evidence and lived experience.