BY ERIC MSIKITI
IN AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS:
Some Malawian delegates to the 22nd International Aids Conference being held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, have said that Malawi could achieve its dream of eliminating Aids by 2030.
Malawi has a population of about 767, 452 people who are on antiretroviral therapy out of a population of 910,115 people who have undergone HIV testing.
Both Action Aid Malawi (AAM)— Principal Recipient (PR) of the Global Fund in the country — and Malawi Network of People Living with HIC (Manet +) say Malawi has made strides in ensuring that those living with HIV have been tested and placed on antiretroviral therapy (ART).
Speaking ahead of the conference, AAM Programmes manager for the joint TB-HIV grant, Dalitso Kuphanga, said Malawi continues to make tremendous progress in controlling HIV prevalence rate, putting it on course to ending the pandemic in 2030.
“Malawi has managed to test 91 percent of those that are supposed to be tested for HIV and 80 percent of those who were found positive have been enrolled on ART. Out of these, 86 percent have had their viral loads suppressed,” Kuphanga said.
Kuphanga said Malawi was also on course in terms of meeting 90.90.90 targets.
“So this summit will help us to make even greater strides in the fight against the pandemic,” he said.
Manet + Executive Director, Lawrence Khonyongwa, said Malawi’s challenge would be to reach out to the over 300,000 people who are yet to be tested for HIV.
“Despite all the progress, there is need to reach out to the population of men and young Malawians who are still afraid or shy to get tested and know their zero status,” Khonyongwa said.
The International Aids Conference is the largest conference on any global health issue in the world.
Over 15,000 global leaders, policy makers, researchers and advocates from across the world have gathered for this year’s conference, which is being held under the theme ‘Breaking Barriers. Building Bridges’.
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