New AIDS infection rate in Mozambique drops 25 percent

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New AIDS infection rate in Mozambique drops 25 percent

9:14 CAT | 21 Jun 2016

This is Africa (File photo) / A man painting the AIDS/HIV-awareness red-ribbon symbol on a tree

While Mozambique remains among the 10 most-affected countries worldwide, the annual number of new HIV/Aids infections has fallen 25 percent in the past five years.

Announcing the figures on Monday June 20, Deputy Minister of Health Mouzinho Saíde said that the parent-child transmission rate is currently 6.7 percent, and prevalence in women between the ages of 15 and 25 is three times higher than in men.

Speaking at a meeting releasing new guidelines to fight the disease in African Portuguese-speaking Countries in Maputo, Saíde said that, of the estimated 1.6 million people with Aids in Mozambique, only 640,000 seek treatment, and more than a third of them drop out treatment programmes during the first year.

The focus of the Mozambican government action plan includes increasing funds for prevention programs as a way to control the spread of the epidemic, especially among young people, Saíde said.

The National Council to Combat Aids acknowledged recently that the country would not meet its goal of eradicating the disease by 2030 if funding to combat the epidemic remained at current levels.

Source: Voa Portugues