HIV infections drop in Africa, but Covid hampers fight, says WHO
HIV infections drop in Africa, but Covid hampers fight, says WHO
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“Africa has made significant progress against HIV over the past decade, reducing new infections of 43 percent and almost discussing deaths related to AIDS,” African WHO office said in a statement.
The level of HIV infection in Africa has declined significantly, but the continent is still behind setting the target, with efforts slowed by Pandemic Covid-19, said the World Health Organization Tuesday.
“Africa has made significant progress against HIV over the past decade, reducing new infections of 43 percent and almost discussing deaths related to AIDS,” African WHO office said in a statement.
But he warned that Africa could not meet the target to end AIDS as a threat to public health on the turn of the decade because Covid has damaged the fight in many countries.
“Covid-19 has made a fight against HIV all that is more challenging, but one virus may not win over the other. We must overcome Covid-19 and HIV in parallel,” said the Head of Africa Matshidiso Meti.
Covid also slows the level of HIV screening due to movement restrictions.
Unaids last week warned that HIV infection rates did not decrease quickly enough to achieve the goal of eradicating AIDS in 2030.
According to data released at an annual international conference on AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (Icasa) are currently held in the Port of Durban Port in South Africa, only nine African countries are on track to meet the target in the next four years.
Countries are Botswana, Cape Verde, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
“This scorecard is a wake-up call for the African government to stay focused on the final AIDS,” Moueti said.
South Africa, the state with the highest HIV prevalence in the world at 20.4 percent, hosted a week’s annual meeting that brings together scientists, politicians, and activists.
