HIV/Aids: Mozambique registers 356 new infections per day

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HIV/Aids: Mozambique registers 356 new infections per day

2:13 CAT | 01 Dec 2020

Mozambique registers about 356 HIV infections every day, despite the Mozambican government's effort to combine antiretroviral therapy with prevention campaigns. [Photo: Domingo]

In an interview with ‘Jornal Domingo’, the executive secretary of Mozambique’s National AIDS Council speaks of 13,000 new infections in 2019.

Today is World Aids Day, celebrated under the motto “Global Solidarity, Shared Responsibility”, but Francisco Mbofana, executive secretary of the National Council to Combat AIDS (CNCS), is concerned about new infections in the country.

In an interview with the weekly Jornal Domingo, Mbofana explained that, despite the efforts made by the government to combat the disease, 130,000 new HIV/Aids infections were registered in 2019.

By September this year, he added, 1.3 million people were on antiretroviral treatment, with the rate of abandonment of treatment last year standing at 30%.

Mozambique registers about 356 HIV infections every day, despite the Mozambican government’s effort to combine antiretroviral therapy with prevention campaigns., he said.

Mbofana further said that an estimated 900,000 people currently have HIV but do not know they are infected.

Treating the disease, according to Francisco Mbofana, costs an average of US$64.60 for adults and US$130.45 for children.

Mbofana admits that something is missing from the strategy to fight the pandemic. What is lacking is the expansion of primary HIV prevention interventions. “Combined HIV prevention works, but the gaps are limiting progress,” he explains.

Mbofana stresses the importance of a combined approach to HIV prevention that includes behavioural, biomedical and structural interventions, specifically aimed at those who need it most.

Source: Jornal Domingo / Carta de Moçambique