News / Health
Zim among countries set to reduce HIV and AIDs pandemic- report
24 Aug 2015 at 06:57hrs | Views
Media reports have revealed that Zimbabwe is among countries that have significantly reduced the HIV and Aids pandemic, according to a latest United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAIDS) report on the global response to the disease.
Released recently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, the publication stated that worldwide new HIV infections had fallen by 35% and Aids-related deaths by 41%.
This response to HIV has averted 30 million new HIV infections and nearly eight million (7,8 million) Aids-related deaths since 2000.
It has exceeded by nine months, the Aids targets of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 6 of 15 million people on life-saving HIV treatment by 2015.
The report also shows that 83 countries, which account for 83% of all people living with HIV, have halted or reversed their epidemics, including countries with major epidemics, such as India, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe UNAids country director Michael Bartos said the gains had largely been a result of concerted efforts from both the government and partners.
"By declaring HIV and Aids a national disaster, it helped to restructure interventions that halted the spread of the disease," he said.
Programmes like prevention-of-mother-to-child-transmission (PMTCT) have largely contributed to the goal of virtual elimination of HIV and Aids and has remained one of the strongest prevention strategies with tremendous benefits.
He, however, said they were still concerned that only a few children were on antiretroviral treatment.
"More needs to be done to ensure that every child that needs treatment is able to access it," Barton said.
Zimbabwe was recently accorded the opportunity, ahead of other bidding African countries, to host the biggest Aids conference in Africa, the 18th edition of the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) from November 29 to December 4 2015.
This followed a thorough assessment of Zimbabwe's capacity to host an event of that magnitude by the ICASA board.
The conference is held once every two years and is expected to attract around 7 000 delegates from all continents.
While making the announcement last month in Harare, ICASA president Ihab Ahmed said they had been impressed by the strides that Zimbabwe had achieved in addressing the epidemic.
Released recently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, the publication stated that worldwide new HIV infections had fallen by 35% and Aids-related deaths by 41%.
This response to HIV has averted 30 million new HIV infections and nearly eight million (7,8 million) Aids-related deaths since 2000.
It has exceeded by nine months, the Aids targets of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 6 of 15 million people on life-saving HIV treatment by 2015.
The report also shows that 83 countries, which account for 83% of all people living with HIV, have halted or reversed their epidemics, including countries with major epidemics, such as India, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe UNAids country director Michael Bartos said the gains had largely been a result of concerted efforts from both the government and partners.
"By declaring HIV and Aids a national disaster, it helped to restructure interventions that halted the spread of the disease," he said.
Programmes like prevention-of-mother-to-child-transmission (PMTCT) have largely contributed to the goal of virtual elimination of HIV and Aids and has remained one of the strongest prevention strategies with tremendous benefits.
He, however, said they were still concerned that only a few children were on antiretroviral treatment.
"More needs to be done to ensure that every child that needs treatment is able to access it," Barton said.
Zimbabwe was recently accorded the opportunity, ahead of other bidding African countries, to host the biggest Aids conference in Africa, the 18th edition of the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) from November 29 to December 4 2015.
This followed a thorough assessment of Zimbabwe's capacity to host an event of that magnitude by the ICASA board.
The conference is held once every two years and is expected to attract around 7 000 delegates from all continents.
While making the announcement last month in Harare, ICASA president Ihab Ahmed said they had been impressed by the strides that Zimbabwe had achieved in addressing the epidemic.
Source - online
