NAN-F-31
HIV
By Akeem Abas
Paris, July 24, 2017 (NAN) Swaziland, acclaimed to have the highest prevalence of HIV-infected adults, has recorded remarkable progress in the prevention of the scourge.
Velephi Okello, the Deputy Director of Health and Clinical Services, Ministry of Health, Swaziland, made the disclosure on Monday at a news conference in Paris.
Okello told newsmen at the 9th IAS Conference on HIV Science that the overall HIV incidence in Swaziland had dropped by 46 per cent as at 2016 from the 2011 record.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Swaziland, a small country in Southern Africa, has the world’s highest estimated prevalence of HIV-infected adults and Tuberculosis.
The 2015 estimates of the Swaziland reveals that life expectancy in the country was 57 years for men and 61 years for women.
The country had done well to curb its HIV epidemic, placing the country as the highest in terms of anti-retroviral treatment coverage in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Swaziland has also increased its investment and funding for the HIV response.
Okello said that the remarkable progress was made possible as the country scaled up a comprehensive, national HIV prevention and treatment programme.
According to her, this result came from a programme known as Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (PHIA).
“It is a nationally representative survey that includes HIV and viral load testing.
“The rigorous survey carried out to directly measure the impact of the programme revealed that the proportion of HIV-infected persons, who have achieved viral suppression, doubled from 35 to 73 per cent,’’ Okello said.
She said that the findings provide the first direct evidence of the national impact of expanded HIV treatment programmes on HIV incidence in a high-prevalence country. (NAN)
TAA/KOLE/GOK
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Edited by Remi Koleoso/Olagoke Olatoye