Africa-Press – Lesotho. LESOTHO’s HIV and health situation room fast track progress towards ending HIV/AIDS infections in the country, said Executive Director UNAIDS Mr Michel Sidibe He said this during the launch of the HIV and health situation room on Tuesday.
“The HIV and health situation room will assist the country in terms of getting the evidence needed to focus interventions in the right locations and on the right populations.
“It is an innovative new tool aimed to track progress and identify gaps in HIV, TB, and maternal health programming in Lesotho.
The HIV and Health situation room shows in real time service delivery data, producing a comprehensive picture and understanding of Lesotho’s HIV epidemic.
It enables quick feedback on results at the national and community levels and identifies bottlenecks in access to health care services. The Lesotho situation room will enable programme staff to localize where efforts need to be intensified.
This more accurate programming will help to ensure that adults and children living with HIV have regular access to care and treatment and those antiretroviral medicines are replenished quickly should stock-outs occur
Sidibe said AIDS response innovation is key. “The Lesotho HIV and Health Situation Room is a perfect example of new tools that use data to enable us to adapt, strengthen focus services and programmes where they are needed,” he said.
He said they will be able to reach the 90-90-90 target that indicates that by 2020 90% of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status, 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy and 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.
When officially launching the HIV and Health situation room, Deputy Prime Minister Mr Monyane Moleleki said Lesotho is ranked among top countries mostly with HIV and related diseases.
He said the innovative will track progress and identify gaps in HIV, TB, and maternal health programming in Lesotho. “It has significance in the sense of survival of the people of Lesotho,” he said.
Meanwhile, United States Ambassador to Lesotho Ms Rebecca Gonzales highlighted the work the United States through President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) has done from 2004 to 2017. She said it has committed more than $70 billion worldwide and over $384 million to bilateral HIV response in Lesotho.
She further noted that the current PEPFAR program remains committed to scaling up Lesotho’s antiretroviral treatment coverage to reach 95% nationally, expanding more efficient and effective testing strategies and treatment modalities, especially for adolescents and men, and commencing self-testing for HIV.
“We are proud of the work that PEPFAR has funded to improve data collection that helps us understand critical information about how the epidemic affects people across the country and delivery health services,” she said.
Supermodel Naomi Campbell also commended Lesotho on the progress made so far on HIV and further indicated that the focus should also be put on teenage girls as studies indicate that they are not being reached effectively.
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