BY KWANELE TSABEDZE
MBABANE – The Kingdom of Eswatini continues to take world-leading steps in controlling and reducing the rate of HIV/AIDS prevalence in the country.
The Principal Secretary (PS) for the Ministry of Health, Dr Simon Zwane, today revealed that the country is adopting an HIV/AIDS prevention drug. Speaking to Eswatini TV today, Dr Zwane revealed that they have been working on the regulatory framework for the drug and they have finalised this together with development partners in this sector.
“In Eswatini, we worked with our partners like the National Emergency Response Council HIV/AIDS (NERCHA) and other organisations we work with when it comes to HIV. We introduced this injection as one of the treatments we use in dealing with the HIV pandemic,” said Zwane.
The drug is the long-acting injectable drug for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which now consists of two initial injections of Cabotegraviror (CAB-LA), administered four weeks apart and followed by an injection every eight weeks. Large-scale studies of the drug showed a 79 per cent reduction in HIV/AIDS risk compared with oral PrEP.
The availability of a long-acting form of PrEP given by injection every two months overcomes some of the barriers to uptake and adherence associated with having to take pills every day, as is currently the need with oral PrEP. These barriers include the need to store the pills at home in a safe location and fear that a family member or sexual partner may notice or find the pills.
Eswatini is the second country in Africa to adopt the drug, after Zimbabwe adopted it earlier this month.
Zwane added that they are working on having the drug available across the country. He further revealed that they will be conducting trials with the people with whom they have been working with on such.
“We expect everyone else to continue with their current treatments until further notice after the trial,” said Zwane.
This new treatment for HIV/AIDS in Eswatini is the latest addition in a tradition of leading in the fight against the pandemic. Eswatini, together with Switzerland, are the first countries to achieve the ‘95-95-95’ global HIV target. This means that 95% of people living with HIV in Eswatini know their status, that 95 per cent of people who know their HIV-positive status are accessing treatment and that 95 per cent of people on treatment have suppressed viral load. The United Nations ‘95-95-95’ deadline is 2030, meaning that Eswatini reached the target an entire decade in advance.
This success can be attributed to investments in HIV prevention and treatment interventions targeting the hardest-to-reach and most vulnerable populations. This includes girls and young women – who across East and southern Africa continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV. In Eswatini, 63 per cent of people living with HIV are women.
