estimated at 38 years which is about 20 years shorter than before the AIDS epidemic. The demand for medical care related to HIV infection currently overburdens already fragile health systems, and AIDS exacerbates poverty at household and at country level since the disease affects mainly individuals in the most productive age group, reaping lives and leaving orphans to be cared for by relatives or by the State. 1.3 National response to HIV Prevention, care and treatment activities in Zimbabwe are coordinated by NAC and implemented by the AIDS and TB Unit of the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare. The responses to the epidemic have included HIV preventive education and behavior change strategies, PMTCT, supply of safe blood and blood products, condom promotion, disease surveillance as well as voluntary counseling and testing and treatment, care and support interventions; measures which are believed to have led to reduction in the prevalence and incidence of HIV in some populations in the country as well as mitigating the impact of the epidemic. However, there is a need for more effective measures to further “control the epidemic”. An effective vaccine against HIV is one intervention that is likely to have the ultimate effect of controlling the epidemic. 6