By TesfaNews,
ACCORDING to the UNAIDS Gap Report that was released today, Eritrea has been named as a country with the lowest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In the report titled “Beginning of the End of the Aids Epidemic“, it was indicated that the number of AIDS-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa fell by 39% between 2005 and 2013. In those periods, Eritrea registered a 67% decline in AIDS-related deaths.
Other Sub-Saharan countries that recorded major declines in AIDS-related deaths include Rwanda (76%), Botswana (58%), Burkina Faso (58%), Ethiopia (63%), Kenya (60%), Zimbabwe (57%), Malawi (51%) and the United Republic of Tanzania (44%).
South Africa, as one of the most affected country, also registered a record decline of 48% between those periods.
The report concludes that the success is directly due to the rapid increase in the number of people on antiretroviral therapy.
Of the 35 million people living with HIV in the world, 19 million do not know their HIV-positive status. Adolescent girls and young women account for one in four new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa. Within sub-Saharan Africa, 67% [65–68%] of men and 57% [55–60%] of women living with HIV are not receiving antiretroviral therapy.
Even as access to antiretroviral therapy expands in sub-Saharan Africa, significant gaps remain. Chief among these is that only 45% [39-62%] of people living with HIV know their HIV status, underscoring the need to increase HIV knowledge and expand testing. The good news is that an estimated 86% of people who know their HIV status are on antiretroviral therapy and studies suggest that, among those who stay on treatment, an estimated 76% [53-89%] have achieved viral suppression.
UNAIDS’ Eritrea Epidemiological Facts on HIV/AIDS, 2013
| EPIDEMIOLOGY | ESTIMATE | LOWER ESTIMATE | UPPER ESTIMATE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estimated HIV prevalence - adults (15-49 years) | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.8 |
| Percent of young people (15-24 years) living with HIV | 0.2 | <0.1 | 0.2 |
| People living with HIV (all ages) | 18,000 | 14,000 | 22,000 |
| Estimated new HIV infection | <500 | <500 | <1,000 |
| Estimated AIDS-related deaths (all ages) | <1,000 | <1,000 | <1,400 |
| Estimated percentage of pregnant women living with HIV who received antiretroviral medicine for preventing mother-to-child transmission | 38 | 29 | 50 |
| :: Table Source: UNAIDS Gap Report 2014 |
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The Full Report: UNAIDS GAP REPORT
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