NAC Zambia nac.org.zm
Vice President Ms Mutale Nalumango says Zambia risks a resurgence of the HIV epidemic based on what she describes as potential complacence on prevention measures because the virus no longer presents physical negative signs on those living with it.
The Vice President said the advent of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) good as it is in improving the quality of persons living with HIV, it has made the disease invisible with a risk of people especially the younger generation who did not witness its negative effects including death before the introduction of treatment, becoming dismissive of its existence.
She was speaking when National AIDS Council Director General Connie Osborne paid a courtesy call on her on Wednesday in the aftermath of the National HIV Testing, Counselling and Treatment Day which was commemorated on Monday this week.
She directed NAC to step up awareness creation activities to remind members of the public that the epidemic still exists and far from being eradicated.
“I am really concerned with the potential risk of increased HIV infections particularly among the younger generation in whose era the virus no longer manifests in the form of physical body wastage and high death rate as was the case in the pre-treatment era. They may be tempted to think that it does not exist and thereby become less cautious on protection,” she said.
Ms Nalumango was among a team of Ministers in the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) government that set up formal structures of the national HIV multi-sectoral response culminating in the enactment of the National HIV/AIDS/STI/TB Act in 2002.
She said she appreciated the briefing on the status of the HIV epidemic in Zambia as it helped her office to adequately respond within its mandate.
And Dr Osborne informed the Vice President that Zambia was among countries with the highest burden of HIV with 1.3 million people living with the virus and 1.2 million on ART translating into 98 per cent of all those living with the virus being on treatment.
She commended government for the Test and Treat Policy which entails immediate enrolment on ART of every person who tests positive for HIV regardless of their body immunity levels.
Dr Osborne said the policy made it possible for persons living with HIV to have higher chances of recovery when they start treatment early before their vital internal organs are weakened by the virus.
She said although Zambia has continued to record lower annual HIV infections, some sub populations continue to experience the epidemic disproportionately to the general population citing adolescent girls and young women who accounted for 11,000 HIV cases in 2021 out of a national total of 38,000 infections.
Only 90 per cent of Zambians living with HIV know their status falling below the target of 95 per cent set by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) while 98 per cent of those who know their HIV status are on ART and 96 per cent on ART have had their viral load suppressed representing 3 per cent and 1 percent above target respectively.
Zambia’s poorest performance is on knowing the HIV status of children currently estimated at only 60 per cent against the global target of knowing 95 per cent of all children living with the virus.
Dr Osborne reported that Zambia has joined the Global Alliance for Ending AIDS in Children by 2030 complemented by a national campaign dubbed ‘Know Your Child’s Status campaign.
She lobbied the office of the Vice President to support another local campaign called ‘Education Plus ‘aimed at averting 50 per cent HIV infections in school going children when they are kept in school.
