By Tendai Chisiri.
Harare, Zimbabwe. (News of The South) – United Nations Aids urged counties across Africa to Fast- Track their response to AIDS at the opening of the 18th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) which kicked off this Sunday and ends on 4 December in Harare.
“Africa is on the brink of AIDS epidemic”, said UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibe at the opening ceremony of the conference.”We have no time to lose. We have five years to Fast- Track the AIDS response so that the epidemic can’t rebound”, he said.
UNAIDS is hosting several special sessions at ICASA, including its new Fast- Track Strategy. Fast- Track involves front loading investments in the AIDS response to reach an ambitious 90- 90-90 treatment target by 2020.Reaching this target would see 90% of people living with HIV knowing their status, 90% of people who know their HIV – positive status accessing treatment and 90% of people on treatment having suppressed viral loads.
“The conference is taking place against the backdrop of great progress in the AIDS response, even though many challenges remain. Worldwide , 15,8 million people now have access to life- saving antiretroviral medicines with more than 10 million people in sub- Saharan Africa now on treatment”, said Michel Sidibe.
“In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of AIDS- related deaths in 2014 was 48% lower than in 2005, while new infections have declined 41% since 2000.Scaled- up access to antiretroviral medicines in 21 high- priority countries has resulted in a fall of 48% between 2009 and 2014 in the number of people infected with HIV”, he said.
However, he said major challenges still remain across the continent. The same progress is not being seen among young women and girls for example, with young girls aged 15- 19 old accounting for 17% of new HIV infections among this age group in sub- Saharan Africa. In 2014, there were 36.9 million people living with HIV globally, 25.8 in sub- Saharan Africa.
Also speaking at the opening ceremony United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Regional Director Julitta Onabanjo said there is need for protection on adolescent girls and young women in particular.“The 2030 agenda calls us on us to leave no one behind and to reach those furthest behind first- all too often that means adolescent girls and young women, who are disproportionately affected by HIV.
Child marriage is exacerbating HIV because according to the Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey (2010/2011), 4% and 31% of girls were married by ages 15 and 18 respectively.92% of sexually active 15-19 year old girls were in some form of a marital union.HIV prevalence among young women aged from 15 to 24 is 6.4% in Zimbabwe is nearly twice as high than that among young men.
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