Mozambique | HIV/AIDS: “We are a very long way from what we desire”

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Mozambique | HIV/AIDS: “We are a very long way from what we desire”

10:25 CAT | 15 Jul 2020

File photo: Rádio Moçambique

Mozambican Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario on Monday recognised advances that have been made in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Speaking in Maputo, at the opening of a meeting of the governing board of the National AIDS Council (CNCS), Rosario noted that, in the five year period from 2015 to 2019, the number of new HIV infections had fallen by 13 per cent, and the number of deaths from HIV/AIDS related causes had declined by 14 per cent.

But this was no reason for complacency. “We are a very long way from what we desire”, said Rosario. He was particularly concerned at the high rate of “vertical transmission” of HIV (transmission of the virus from a mother to her unborn child).

The current situation indicates that about 2.2 million people in Mozambique are HIV-positive. It is estimated that every day there are 223 new infections in Mozambique, and 107 AIDS-related deaths.

Sexual transmission remains the main way in which the disease spreads. But 6.2 per cent of cases are among children who caught the disease in their mother’s womb.

“Our target is to reach the year 2030 with the HIV/AIDS epidemic under control”, stressed Rosario. “To achieve this we must all do our part. Our main focus will continue to be: avoid new infections, avoid AIDS-related deaths, avoid HIV transmission from mother to child”.

The CNCS Executive Secretary, Francisco Mbofana, told the meeting that the decline in new infections is particularly notable in Zambezia, Tete, Manica, Inhambane, Gaza and Maputo city and province. Infection rates in Cabo Delgado and Sofala are stable, but are rising in Nampula.

Mbofana said work is under way to raise more resources, domestically and from foreign partners to implement activities to prevent HIV infection and to care for and treat those who have already caught the disease.

He said that the CNCS has approached the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria with a request for finance of 545 million US dollars to cover the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2023.

Source: AIM