BY: AISHA AHMED, DUTSE
United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS), has said that it has proposed a new approach for sustaining HIV response in the West and Central African sub region, that covers five areas that include enabling laws and policies, sustainable and equitable financing, science based, effective and high impact HIV service to deliver results.
This was annouced by the UNAIDS’ Regional Director West and Central Africa, Ms Berthilde Gahongayire, at the launch of the Regional AIDS Update Report for West and Central Africa, which held at Azalai Hotel in Dakar, Senegal in July.
She said, exacrly 10 years ago, an MSF published report, described the West and Central Africa region as being left behind.
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“10 years on, and despite difficult political and security contexts in many countries and a Covid 19 episode that left its mark, the region is showing encouraging results in terms of reducing the number of new infections and the number of people on treatment.
“The annual number of new HIV infections in West and Central Africa will fall by 46% between 2010 and 2023.
“Nevertheless, the number of new HIV infections remains high among key populations, adolescents and young women.” She explained.
Gahongayire added that in 2023, adolescent girls and young women (aged between 15 and 24) accounted for 19% of all new HIV infections in the region.
“In this age group, by 2022, 8 out of 10 new infections will be among girls, and 2 out of 10 among boys.
“In our region, we have also made huge progress in access to treatment. The number of adults (aged 15 and over) receiving HIV treatment has more than doubled since 2015.
She stressed that today, about 81% of people living with HIV know their status, 76% of those receiving antiretroviral treatment and 70% have a suppressed viral load.
Countries such as Burundi and the DRC, she explained, are on the verge of achieving the 95-95-95 targets for HIV testing and treatment among their adult population (aged 15 and over).
Between 2010 and 2023, the number of AIDS-related deaths will have fallen by 55% in our region.
Paediatric HIV, she noted, is an absolute priority in the Region, but only 35% of children living with HIV were receiving treatment in 2023.
In addition, the region is home to 20% of the world’s pregnant women living with HIV, but more than half of them are not receiving antiretroviral treatment.
The Regional head revealed that in terms of discrimination and stigmatisation, efforts are underway in several countries, to implement legal reforms and combat stigmatisation and discrimination, particularly against key populations.
“Latest surveys show that 33% of people in Gabon and 79% of people in Mauritania have discriminatory attitudes towards people living with HIV.” Gahongayire disclosed.
In addition, the age of consent for access to HIV testing is still limited in 10 countries in our region, which still require parental or guardian consent for HIV testing for young people under the age of 18.
“Although overall resources dedicated to HIV have decreased, in our region there will be a 10% increase in total resources to fight HIV in 2023, mainly due to an increase in international resources.
“Unfortunately, domestic resources have decreased by 3% in 2023.” She added.
Moreso, she highlighted that progress made so far, saying that they have achieved a lot in reducing new infections, except among adolescents.
“We have made progress in terms of access to treatment, but very few children have access to antiretroviral treatment. The number of HIV deaths has fallen.
“International resources allocated to HIV have increased, but unfortunately the resources allocated by countries have decreased, making them more dependent on donors.
“We have entitled this report The Urgency of the Moment: AIDS at the Crossroads, because we believe that a combination of strong political commitment, technical expertise and community mobilisation is needed to continue progress towards preventing the vertical transmission of HIV.
“If we scale up prevention, work to eliminate gender inequality and end HIV-related stigma and discrimination, then we will be well on the way to ending AIDS by 2030.
Furthermore the Head mentioned that some of their partners, such as France, Luxembourg and Canada, have clearly understood this and she commended them for their support.