Africa-Press – Lesotho. Elizabeth Glazer Paediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) on Thursday hosted an Evident to Action (E2A) Webinar to share with the world on how Lesotho Reached the 90 90
90 targets to control the AIDS epidemic. In 2015, the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) launched final targets to drive
progress towards the concluding chapter of the AIDS epidemic whereby it was anticipated that: By 2020, 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infections
would have received lifelong sustained antiretroviral therapy; by 2020, 90% of all people with a positive status would be active on treatment; and, by 2020,
90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will be experiencing viral
suppression. In 2020, Lesotho Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (LePHIA) showed that Lesotho reached the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets by 2020, with 90% of the population aware
of their HIV status, 97% of those aware of their HIV status on treatment, and 92% of those on treatment virally suppressed, thus Lesotho recorded 90-97-92.
In an interview with Informative Newspaper the EGPAF Lesotho Communications and Advocacy Manager Makopano Letsatsi said the objective of the webinar is to
celebrate Lesotho’s success towards epidemic control and share with the world on factors that contributed to the achievements. In her presentation, EGPAF Lesotho Country Director Tšepang Mohlomi indicated
that EGPAF values the enabling environment provided by the Ministry of Health (MoH), through its leadership, favorable policies, infrastructure and other resources needed to achieve these targets.
She stated that the MoH is the custodian of the health system in Lesotho. “Since 2004, EGPAF has enjoyed a great relationship with the MoH, which also
facilitated EGPAF partnerships with the Christian Health Association of Lesotho (CHAL) and Tšepong. This collaboration has enabled the great partnership we
have at national, district and site levels, EGPAF teams work side by side with MoH, CHAL and Tšepong teams to provide direct Tuberculosis (TB) and HIV
services to clients, under the direction of District Health Management Teams (DHMTs) and facility managers,” she stated. She extended that EGPAF’s work supporting the MoH towards controlling the HIV
epidemic would not have been possible without generous donors. “EGPAF’s biggest source of funding in the implementation of HIV & TB services has been the President Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), through both Centers
for Disease Control (CDC) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In September 2019, EGPAF supported the MoH TB/HIV program in all 10 districts.
In 2020, in fulfilment of the PEPFAR journey towards self-reliance, EGPAF transitioned work in two districts to one of its local subs, that became a PEPFAR prime partner,” she stated.
EGPAF partners with several Civil Society Organizations(CSOs), Council of Higher Education, private practitioners and other Implementing Partners(IPs) in delivering HIV services to Basotho, at facility- and
community-levels adding that these partnerships have been strategic, as some of the CSOs represent people living with HIV and AIDS. She extended that the funding enabled EGPAF to deploy additional human resources to
provide services alongside MoH or Christian Health Association of Lesotho (CHAL) teams, while also building capacity. She said that other donors were also
instrumental in this work, including: The Global Fund,Unitaid, Johnson & Johnson, Cepheid and UNICEF, who leveraged PEPFAR support, to attain 90-90-90 targets.
Speaking at the same occasion the MoH Director General Dr. Lucy Mapota said the mandate of the Ministry is to develop policies and guidelines to guide the health sector for
standard, smooth implementation to ensure universal access and health for all. She indicated that the MoH strives to reduce mortality related to AIDS and HIV
incidences. “Our role is to create a conducive environment for health care workers to deliver health services that are client-centred to People Living with HIV (PLHIV)
in order to retain them in care,” she stated. She concluded that the MoH is excited to have reached the significant milestone of attaining the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets with the support of all the
donors and partners. EGPAF Program Director Dr. Mamello Sekese explained that they scaled up viral load monitoring through innovations such as Point of Care (POC) for
pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, they do early follow-up for missed appointments within 24 hours working with their community partners and also ensured that PLHIV are transitioned to newly improved optimized ARVs.
Dr. Sekese mentioned that among client cantered approaches that were implemented in Lesotho are 3-6 months of multi-month dispensing to stable Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) clients,
Community ART adherence support Groups (CAGS), Extended clinic work hours, to enhance Viral Load (VL) monitoring and drug pick-up of working or school-aged
clients, Integrated community outreach, Community ART delivery through outreach and home drop-offs, Integrated TB/HIV/COVID-19 services through mobile port
health clinics, welcome back to care packages, POC VL for pregnant and breastfeeding women, Specialized high viral load monitoring, viremia clinics, and camps for children and produce Treatment literacy material conveying Undetectable=Untransmissible
(U=U) messaging.
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