BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE – The kingdom of Eswatini has made major strides in the HIV response to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
The country is the first in the region to have accomplished the 95-95-95 treatment targets in 2020 with an associated steady decline in HIV incidence from 1.44 in 2016 to 0.62 in 2021 among adults (aged 15 years and older).
This is according to a report shared by World Health Organisation Eswatini.
In the report, it is mentioned that this incidence is equivalent to about 4000 New HIV infections per year. The epidemic has shifted from what was traditionally known as a generalised epidemic to a micro-epidemic impacting different population groups in diverse ways.
Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW), sex workers (SW), and men who have sex with men have a high vulnerability to HIV infection.
“The country has developed a core set of proven effective HIV prevention strategies and aims to increase the uptake of high-impact services, such as condoms, HIV testing and counselling (HTC), prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), antiretroviral therapy (ART), Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP), Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC), according to the unique risks and vulnerabilities within each priority population,” reads the report.
In particular, the use of PrEP has been scaled up over the years acting as a preventative measure against the spread of HIV. The Expansion of HIV prevention services including ART coverage (treatment as prevention) and the introduction of oral PrEP into the country, has contributed to the drop in HIV new infections.
In September 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that people at substantial risk of HIV infection should be offered PrEP as a prevention method, and as part of a comprehensive package. In 2016, WHO’s initial role in the introduction of PrEP in Eswatini included providing technical guidance during in-country policy dialogues.
WHO also supported the development of a National PrEP framework. PrEP was introduced in the country through a pilot study using the demonstration approach. At the time, the annual number of HIV new infections was estimated to be at 7000 according to the Eswatini HIV Incidence measurement survey conducted in 2016.
