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The vice president of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi said the country
would continue its fight against HIV/AIDS. Speaking at the National AIDS Council meeting recently, the new chairman said
he was committed to ensuring continuous improvements in its business. He said
given the changes in the HIV and AIDS landscape, there was need to re-structure
the council by way of reviewing its mandate and membership to improve alignment
to latest trends.
“The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in its 2015 session
in April 2015 passed a resolution on UNAIDS encouraging accelerated action and
investment in the next five years to be on track to end AIDS as a public health
threat by 2030. The Fast Track targets set for 2020 refer to 90 percent of
people living with HIV knowing their HIV status, 90 percent of people who know
their HIV-positive status are actually on treatment, and 90 percent of people on
treatment have suppressed viral loads. In short, this is referred to as the
90-90-90 targets,” he said.
Masisi explained that in order to sustain the achievements and make further
gains against HIV in the immediate future, the country finalised an investment
case to provide strategic direction not only to revitalise and integrate an
overwhelmed and overburdened healthcare system, but also to refocus HIV
prevention efforts and increase access to Antiretroviral therapy(ART). He said
for Botswana, sustaining a quality health care system, increasing access to ART
and successfully addressing HIV prevention, was as critical now as it was when
the original decision to launch its national ART programme in 2001.
Continue Reading: http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=50832&dir=2015/april/29
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