Confirmation has recently been received that on 30 November 2014 a new Guinness World Record was set in Ethiopia. Over an eight-hour period some 3383 people were provided with voluntary HIV counselling and testing at the Gambella National Stadium in the Gambella region.

The HIV counselling and testing campaign was led by the Government of Ethiopia, in collaboration with UNAIDS, to commemorate World AIDS Day 2014. The aim of the HIV campaign was to mobilize communities in Gambella to find out their HIV status and to link them to HIV prevention and treatment services.

Television and radio advertisements were used to inform and mobilize participants. Also on board to encourage participation were community groups, the women’s army, religious leaders as well as the office of the President of Gambella. 

According to the 2011 Ethiopia Demographic Health Surveys, the Gambella region is the most affected by HIV in the country, with HIV prevalence of 6.5% among the adult population. Several factors are attributed to the high prevalence rates in the region, including low levels of male circumcision among certain ethnic groups, migration flows and sex work in areas of commercial farming, mining and major roads connecting Gambella to western Ethiopia and South Sudan.

Qualified counsellors from around the country carried out the HIV counselling and testing. Participants who tested positive for HIV were given more information about the virus and referred to clinics providing HIV services.

The previous Guinness World Record was achieved on 30 November 2012 in Argentina, where 1380 people were tested in eight hours.

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Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon (PRRR), an innovative partnership that works to expand the availability of vital cervical cancer screening, treatment and breast care education—especially for women living with HIV—was officially launched in Ethiopia by Roman Tesfaye, the First Lady of Ethiopia, in Addis Ababa on 11 February.

HIV-positive women are four to five times more likely to contract cervical cancer than their HIV-negative peers. In Ethiopia cervical cancer is the second most-common female cancer and is responsible for 16.5% of all cancer deaths among women.

With US$ 7.8 million in funding, working under the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Health, PRRR will roll out programmes to prevent, screen for and treat cervical cancer at 33 sites across the country.

Founded in 2011 by the George W. Bush Institute, the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, UNAIDS and Susan G. Komen, the partnership has helped to screen more than 100 000 women for cervical cancer in Botswana, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia in the past three years.

UNAIDS has supported PRRR activities since the partnership’s inception, facilitating the active engagement of civil society and networks of women living with HIV in the implementation of PRRR activities. The lessons learned from the AIDS response have critical to decreasing the stigma and fear that can prevent women from seeking cervical cancer screening.

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In the 14th General Assembly of the Organization of Africa First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA), held on 31 January on the sidelines of the 24th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, African First Ladies reaffirmed their commitment to the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030. The First Ladies also highlighted the importance of paediatric care, strengthening of partnerships and ensuring that AIDS is a strong component in the post-2015 development agenda.

The OAFLA General Assembly was addressed by Yoo (Ban) Soon-taek, who emphasized that women, including young women, adolescent girls, women of child-bearing age, sex workers and transgender women, are a key population in the continental AIDS response and require focused and strategic interventions if we are to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. She also called for a reinvigorated campaign against new infections among children.

Since the establishment of OAFLA in 2002, African First Ladies have advocated for and raised awareness on AIDS, championing many campaigns on eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV, underlining the burden of HIV on women and strengthening networks of people living with HIV. 

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The 24th Summit of the African Union and related events reaffirmed that Africa is committed and will remain committed to women’s empowerment and to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030. The Summit took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 23 to 31 January 2015 under 2015 annual African Union theme of “Women empowerment and development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063”.

The importance of ending AIDS was particularly articulated during the gender pre-summit meeting, at which the participants noted that member states should ensure that ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 is part of Agenda 2063 and that it has an inclusive human rights approach that leaves no one behind, including children, adolescents, women of child-bearing age and women and girls in conflict and post-conflict settings.

The participants at the pre-summit meeting also noted that member states should ensure that the sexual and reproductive health and rights of African women are implemented without renegotiation of their content.

The Summit adopted Agenda 2063, the African Union vision of the next 50 years, and endorsed the formation of the African Group of Negotiators on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the single negotiating body acting on behalf of the continent. 

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Leaders of key continental, regional and national institutions concluded that the AIDS epidemic remains a key priority for Africa and must be ended by 2030 in the continent during a High-level Dialogue on Ending AIDS, held on 24 November in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The dialogue was hosted by the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and UNAIDS as part of activities to commemorate World AIDS Day 2014.  

During the meeting, participants discussed the recommendations in the new UNAIDS report Fast-Track: ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 and encouraged countries to embrace the targets set to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. To achieve this goal, participants made several recommendations, which include ensuring the effective use of existing continental accountability mechanisms, such as AIDS Watch Africa and the African Peer Review Mechanism; focusing on innovative ways of increasing domestic financing for health; ensuring sustained access to medicines through local production of drugs; integrating AIDS as part of broader health and development; and ensuring national HIV programmes tailored for young people and populations at higher risk of HIV infection.

Participants of the meeting included ambassadors of African Union Member States, representatives of the African Union Commission, regional economic communities, the African Peer Review Mechanism, AIDS Watch Africa, civil society organizations and development partners, and key opinion leaders, academics and young people.

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More than 50 000 people in eastern and southern Africa received HIV testing and counselling services as part of national campaigns held between 17 and 30 November. On 1 December, World AIDS Day, countries unveiled the number of people tested during the campaigns, which took place in Botswana, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and United Republic of Tanzania.

While the campaigns sought to reach the general population, some countries focused on reaching populations at higher risk of HIV infection, including young people, women and migrants.

Ethiopia held a one-day campaign in Gambella, which has the highest HIV prevalence in the country, at 6.5%, according to the 2011 Ethiopian Demographic Survey. Botswana provided HTC services at 10 testing sites in Maun District, with a special focus on couples and young people. Lesotho undertook a two-week nationwide campaign focusing on young people, migrants, men and traditional healers. Namibia held the testing in Katutura—a township of the capital Windhoek—to reach underserved communities in informal settlements.

Communities, non-profit organizations and national partners supported the campaigns by mobilizing communities, procuring test kits or distributing HIV information materials and commodities. The campaigns also ensured that people who tested positive for HIV were referred and linked to HIV treatment and care services.

The number of people tested during the campaigns reaffirms the strong commitment of countries to accelerate community action and galvanize the active involvement of young people and networks of people living with HIV to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

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Oral pre-exposure HIV prophylaxis (PrEP) has been shown to be up to 90% effective in preventing HIV infection among people who take it consistently. However, the United States of America is the only country in which PrEP is licensed and recommended for use within HIV prevention programmes. 

In order to find ways to bridge the gaps between evidence and policy-making processes, UNAIDS, AVAC and WHO organized a meeting during the 2014 HIV Research for Prevention (HIV R4P) conference, which is taking place from 28 to 31 October in Cape Town, South Africa. HIV R4P is the world’s first scientific meeting dedicated exclusively to biomedical HIV prevention research.

Participants

The meeting brought together representatives of ministries of health and national AIDS councils from Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe, PrEP researchers and participants from research and demonstration sites where PrEP is currently being delivered, funders and drug manufacturers, and HIV activists.

Key messages

• PrEP is being used in several demonstration projects across eastern and southern Africa, covering a wide range of populations, including serodiscordant couples in Kenya and Uganda, sex workers in Zimbabwe and men who have sex with men in Kenya and South Africa.
• In order to be used more widely, PrEP must be part of a comprehensive prevention strategy with associated milestones and success indicators that have been defined with policy-makers. The Kenyan Prevention Roadmap already includes the possibility of PrEP.
• Costs and cost-effectiveness models remain key, as are the selection of populations for which PrEP should be offered and the choice of an appropriate delivery model. The Sisters clinics, which provide a dedicated service for sex workers in Zimbabwe, are acceptable to many sex workers and fit within a government strategy.
• The early stopping of the PROUD PrEP study demonstrates that within the sexual health services of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland there is a strong demand for PrEP and that it is feasible to identify people at greatest risk.
• Demand is now beginning to grow in African communities and needs to be stimulated among those who would most benefit and would be most likely to use PrEP.
• Policy-makers in health and other government departments need more information on PrEP presented in a way that they can use, as well as opportunities to discuss their specific concerns, for example on PrEP safety studies or measures to improve adherence.
• More needs to be understood about the costing of PrEP. This demands greater understanding of who would use PrEP, how they would use it and where they would access it.

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How to realize Africa’s potential for the future of all its peoples and build international support for the continent’s development were key questions explored in the first session of the Africa Rising Forum held this week in New York.

Taking place at the Africa Center and organized by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the 22 September event brought together a number of African heads of state, United Nations partners, and leaders from African civil society and the business community.

They examined how to move beyond simply talking about the need for broad-based economic transformation and sustainable development to taking concrete steps to make them a reality, especially with regard to the post-2015 development agenda. 

A session on ensuring shared prosperity looked at ways to improve investment and resource mobilization, champion entrepreneurship and ensure social protection. Another stressed that development cannot be achieved without the existence of good governance, peace, security and respect for human rights.

It was agreed that ensuring health for all was a critical facet of Africa’s rise, and that ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030 now a realistic goal. There was also a consensus that the continent’s rise should not only be measured in terms of overall wealth generated but by the inclusiveness of socioeconomic progress that leaves no one behind.