BY PHUMELELE MKHONTA
MBABANE– The Eswatini and global fight against HIV/AIDS seems to be a victorious one.
The United States Embassy Eswatini is in a celebratory mode as expressed in their official platforms of communication where they laid out their achievements since they started funding HIV/AIDS initiatives.
The United States’ US$100 billion investment in the fight against HIV/AIDS has empowered partner nations to better respond to disease threats and improve people’s lives.
Launched in 2003, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has saved over 25 million lives and helped 5.5 million babies be born HIV-free. HIV-related deaths are said to have dropped by 68 per cent since their peak in 2004, thanks in large part to PEPFAR.
While PEPFAR’s focus is on ending HIV/AIDS, the program’s public health improvements also have helped countries tackle other health challenges and prepare for future disease threats.
“We need to look at how the incredible platform established for the HIV/AIDS response can be further used to prepare the world to fight other pandemic diseases while protecting and advancing HIV/AIDS response gains,” the U.S. global AIDS coordinator and special representative for global health diplomacy, Dr John Nkengasong, said. “
He continues to say they did not need to build new systems to fight a pandemic they would use existing platforms.
PEPFAR has built testing labs, developed medical supply chains and trained over 325,000 health care workers. These investments have helped countries face healthcare crises, such as West African nations’ use of PEPFAR-supported labs in responding to the 2014 Ebola outbreak (PDF, 7.6MB). Numerous countries relied on PEPFAR’s public health advancements during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Two decades of investment in partner nations’ health systems played a critical role in countries’ ability to respond to other health crises such as COVID-19, Mpox, and Ebola,” President Biden said on PEPFAR’s 20th anniversary in January.
At the 76th World Health Assembly at Geneva in Switzerland, Eswatini’s Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi highlighted Eswatini’s success with regards to fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the country.
“Our recent achievements in HIV have contributed to increased life expectancy from 42 years in 2001 to 60 years in 2020. Eswatini completed the third consecutive Population-based HIV Impact Assessment, which showed a further reduction in HIV incidence from 1.4 per cent in 2016 to 0.6 per cent in 2021.
“Aligned with the WHO goal of Cervical Cancer Elimination by 2030, Eswatini is ready to introduce the HPV vaccination campaign targeting girls aged 9-14 years and focusing on 9-year-olds routinely. Going forward towards 2030 for full HIV epidemic control, we must focus on identified gaps particularly on adolescent girls and young women,” said the Minister.
