Prevalence and determinants of Infectious Diseases in Zimbabwe

African countries have developed infectious disease control programs such as routine immunization, vaccination, and the provision of essential drugs which are operating nationwide in cooperation with many local and foreign NGOs. Most African countries such as Zimbabwe have a relatively high prevalence of HIV/AIDS until now and issues like poverty, food insecurity, illiteracy, poor sanitation, and social stigma around AIDS are widespread and are creating formidable challenges to prevention of further spread of this epidemic. African countries are undergoing an epidemiological transition where the disease burden is gradually shifting to non-communicable diseases, but the infectious diseases still account for almost half of the total disease burden. Despite this huge burden of infectious diseases in Zimbabwe, there is yet any study on the social determinants of infectious diseases in a local context. This paper examines various issues surrounding the prevalence and social determinants of infectious diseases in Bindura district, Zimbabwe with a special reference to HIV/AIDS. A qualitative research framework underpinned by focus group based enquiry and key informant interviews will be deployed. Qualitative data will be analysed using top qualitative research softwares such as NVivo, ATLAS.ti, Provalis Research Text Analytics Software and the Costa model. Qualitative information may be organised to express critical processes, in our case the perception of informants concerning the prevalence and determinants of infectious diseases in Bindura. Bindura district has a mining town and commercial farming activities as well as a rural community that has a high risk population of informal gold miners. Thigh vendors flock to this district in search of clients. The diversity of the district makes it an appropriate test case for this research. The study therefore, attempts to provide a framework for formulating more efficient prevention and intervention strategies for the future.