Africa-Press – Lesotho. According to the recent survey conducted by Lesotho Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (LePHIA) Lesotho is making remarkable progress towards achieving the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) 90-90-90 targets among adults 15-59.
The target says by the year 2020, 90 percent of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status, 90 percent of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy and 90 percent of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.
LePHIA was conducted from November 2016 to May 2017 in order to measure the reach and impact of the country’s HIV prevention, care and treatment services. The survey was conducted nationally in 10,000 households and with 15,000 participants.
In his speech the Deputy Prime Minister Monyane Moleleki confirmed that the government of Lesotho is committed to build on the achievements made and to keep combatting the possible gaps that this important survey shows.
Moleleki further indicated that there are approximately 306 000 people living with HIV throughout the country as per the preliminary results of the survey by LePHIA.
The preliminary results from the LePHIA survey reveal significant progress in controlling the HIV epidemic. Annual HIV incidence is 1.47 percent (1.74 percent among females and 1.22 percent among males).
HIV prevalence is 25.6 percent (30.4 percent among females and 20.8 percent among males, corresponding to approximately 306,000 people living with HIV [PLHIV]).
The survey also indicates that the viral load suppression among all HIV positive adults 67.6 percent (70.6 percent among females and 63.4 percent among males).
Among adults who tested HIV positive in LePHIA, 77.2 percent reported already knowing their HIV status (81.5 percent of HIV-positive females and 71.0 percent of HIV-positive males)Among People Living with HIV (PLHIV) who know their HIV status, 90.2 percent self-report current use of antiretroviral therapy treatment (90.6 percent of HIV-positive females and 89.4 percent of HIV-positive males)Among PLHIV who self-report current use of ART, 88.3 percent are virally suppressed (88.3 percent of HIV-positive females and 88.4percent of HIV-positive males).
According to the results of the survey the government of Lesotho’s decisive move to launch the test and treat policy in 2016 is expected to promote further progress in controlling the epidemic by increasing the number of PLHIV who are on antiretroviral treatment.
U. S. Ambassador Matthew Harrington also noted that the LePHIA results should be used to inform the work ahead. “LePHIA has shown us that Lesotho is making remarkable progress towards achieving the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets.
Now that we have this information and along with other available data the next step is to keep the momentum going and maximize available resources to achieve an AIDS-free generation in Lesotho,” he said.
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