By Nyasha Kunyiswa
ZIMBABWE has already achieved its 2025 targets of 95-95-95 on HIV prevention, National Aids Council (Nac) chief executive officer Bernard Madzima has said.
The 95-95-95 is a concept introduced by the United Nations programme on HIV/Aids as an idea that by 2025, 95 percent of people who are HIV-infected will be diagnosed, 95 percent of people who are diagnosed will be on antiretroviral treatment and 95 percent of those who receive antiretrovirals will be virally suppressed.
Speaking to the Daily News yesterday, Madzima said the country was making strides to achieve zero infection by 2030. “Zimbabwe has already achieved 95-95-95 percent of 2025 target to end new infections of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) by 2030.
“The 2030 target of zero infection is realistic in the sense that the current rate of new infections is around 0, 11 percent. “Zimbabwe has managed to reach its 95-95-95 target on HIV after it conducted awareness programmes around the country and we are one of the first countries in Africa that has achieved 95-95-95 percent 2025 target,” he said.
Madzima added that the rate of new infections was higher in key populations rather than the general population that includes sex workers, adolescent girls, artisanal miners and prisoners. “The key population which includes sex workers, adolescent girls, artisanal miners and prisoners, we have come up with the programmes in an effort to curb HIV.
“We have made significant progress as a country since we have achieved 95-95 95 percent so it means that the people on antiretroviral medication they are taking are working to suppress HIV. “The number of new HIV infections in Zimbabwe has gone down,” he said.
In 2020, Zimbabwe had the sixth highest HIV prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa, with 1,3 million persons aged 15 – 64 years living with HIV.
