GENEVA/NEW YORK, 20 September 2017—UNAIDS congratulates Lesotho and Uganda on the progress made towards ending AIDS shown in their respective Population-Based HIV Impact Assessments (PHIAs).
According to the new Lesotho PHIA results, HIV viral load suppression—a key marker indicating that the body is successfully suppressing the virus—has reached 68% among all adults living with HIV between the ages of 15 and 59 years. People living with HIV with suppressed viral loads live longer, have fewer complications due to HIV and are less likely to transmit the virus. The findings suggest that Lesotho is on track to achieve the 90–90–90 targets by 2020, whereby 90% of people living with HIV know their status, 90% of people who know their status are accessing treatment and 90% of people on treatment are virally suppressed.
The Uganda PHIA results indicate that 60% of adults living with HIV between the ages of 15 and 64 years are virally suppressed. The results demonstrate that Uganda is making steady progress towards its national goal of reaching 73% viral load suppression among adults living with HIV between the ages of 15 and 49 years by 2020. Uganda’s epidemic has stabilized in part due to increases in the coverage of voluntary medical male circumcision for HIV prevention and the expansion of HIV treatment, including for pregnant women living with HIV.
“The Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment studies demonstrate that by committing to the 90–90–90 targets countries are making progress faster,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé. “Working together with the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and partners, Lesotho and Uganda are saving lives and getting on track to ending AIDS.”
In addition to the Lesotho and Uganda surveys, similar data from Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe were gathered through nationally representative household surveys, in collaboration with local governmental and nongovernmental partners, in 2016. The surveys for Lesotho and Uganda were conducted with funding from the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and assistance from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and ICAP at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
UNAIDS thanks the United States of America for its commitment to the global AIDS response. On 19 September 2017, PEPFAR released its new Strategy for Accelerating HIV/AIDS Epidemic Control (2017–2020). The strategy reaffirms the United States Government’s leadership and commitment to support the response to HIV in more than 50 countries and is in line with the Fast-Track Targets.
UNAIDS
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
