Addis Ababa, 21 July 2017- Latest results released by UNAIDS Thursday show that through shared responsibility and global solidarity Africa has made greater strides in the fight against AIDS and is on track to achieve set targets if investments are increased. The results come at a time of many competing development priorities and the levelling of development assistance for health. The African Union is pushing for increased domestic investment in health in the context of impressive rates of economic growth in many African countries.

“The progress particularly in our eastern and southern Africa region demonstrate that the political commitments of African countries and the global community are being translated into tangible action. However it is too early to celebrate as we need to engage with the issues that we are off track including addressing HIV in children, young people and regions that are lagging behind” said Her Excellency Amira El Fadil, the Commissioner for Social Affairs at the African Union Commission.

During the July 2017 Summit in Addis Ababa, Heads of State and Government commended the significant progress made in the reduction of mortality and new rates of HIV infection on the continent but committed to further pursue initiatives to build strong human resources for health including harnessing the role of Community Health Workers and endorsed the 2 million Community Health Workers initiative that seeks to create a new cadre of health workers to further strengthen community health systems. To harness Africa’s demographic dividend, the Summit underscored the importance of addressing the unmet needs of young people and adolescents and raised concern that the West and Central Africa region is lagging behind and endorsed the Emergency Catch up Plan to accelerate the HIV response.

The eastern and southern Africa region which has been most affected by HIV globally has achieved the most progress. Since 2010, AIDS-related deaths have declined by 42%. New HIV infections have declined by 29%, including a 56% drop in new HIV infections among children over the same period, a remarkable achievement resulting from HIV treatment and prevention efforts that is putting the region on track to end AIDS.

Global solidarity and shared responsibility to stop new HIV infections among children has produced results. Around 76% of pregnant women living with HIV had access to antiretroviral medicines in 2016, up from 47% in 2010. New HIV infections among children globally have halved, from 300 000 in 2010 to 160 000 in 2016. Five-high burden African countries—Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Uganda—have already met the milestone of diagnosing and providing lifelong antiretroviral therapy to 95% of pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV.

However in west and central Africa the data shows that only 42% of the 6.1 million people living with HIV in the region knew their HIV status and only 35% were accessing HIV treatment and only one in four people living with HIV were virally suppressed in 2016. Similarly in the Middle East and North Africa, just over half of the people living with HIV knew their HIV status, with less than half of those on HIV treatment. Only one out of five people living with HIV was virally suppressed.

Some of the key challenges that Africa needs to address include addressing New HIV infections that are not declining fast enough, increase TB testing for people living with HIV, accelerate treatment for children living with HIV and address HIV issues for young people and adolescents. The data also shows that as many as two thirds of children under two years old are diagnosed late and start treatment with advanced immunodeficiency, resulting in a high mortality rate. A revitalised and energised response remains critical for ending AIDS by 2030 and create a solid foundation to achieve Africa’s journey towards socio-economic transformation as espoused in Agenda 2063.

For media inquiries:

Tawanda Chisango | Advocacy and Partnerships Expert | Department of Social Affairs | African Union Commission I E-mail: chisangot@african-union.org I Tel: +251934167052

More information:

Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@african-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

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