10 000 new HIV infections - PSI
MBABANE - The PSI Eswatini SCORE project uncovered over 10 000 new HIV infections.
This was revealed by the Population Service International (PSI) Eswatini Country Representative, Dr Tilahun Endele yesterday during the closing of the project, held at the Mountain View in Mbabane. The SCORE project was launched in 2017 and spearheaded by PSI. During the five years of the project the country had been able to surpass the global target of 90-90-90 and reduced AIDS related deaths and infections by 50 per cent. The country was also able to reach the 9595-95 United Nation HIV and Aids 2030 targets, 10 years ahead. The main supporters of the project were the USA President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) through the Centre of Disease Control (CDC).
The project had high impact programmes, which included community-based HIV testing, facility based HIV testing and index testing. Some of the services included voluntary male circumcision as well as
HIV prevention programmes.
Presenting the results of the five years of the project Endele said they conducted 84 663 conventional HIV testings. Out of the over 84 000 tests that were conducted 14 per cent tested positive for HIV. “11 603 people were diagnosed with HIV,” he said. The country representative added that 87 per cent of the HIV diagnoses were successfully enrolled on HIV treatment, which translated to 10 098.
Achieved
He said in the last year of the project, 2022, they achieved 97 per cent linkage to antiretroviral therapy (ART). This, therefore, meant the viral suppression rate this year was at 99 per cent.
Further, the country representative said over the past years they were able to circumcise close to 3 000 males through their clinics. Among those who tested negative for HIV and AIDS, 1 116 of them were enrolled to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PreP).
Meanwhile the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Simon Zwane, who was presented by Manzini Principal Health Administrator Thoko Ngubane disclosed that the SHIMS3 this year showed that the country was at 94-97-96. He said the figures showed that more people were on HIV treatment and achieved viral suppression. Zwane said through the project, the country’s HIV treatment dispensing increased from 11 per cent to 85 per cent. Since studies confirmed that people living with HIV had higher chances of cervical cancer, Endele said they were also conducting cervical cancer screening for women at the New Start Clinics. They were able to screen 1 353 women of which 162 were detected to have the human papilloma virus (HPV). He said they recorded a 98 per cent successful treatment rate from the cancer detection as 159 were treated. He went on to state that 71 of those women received LEEP treatment. LEEP treatment is also known as loop electrosurgical excision procedure and it uses wire loop heated by electric current to remove cells and tissues in a woman’s lower genital tract. It is used as part of the diagnosis and treatment for abnormal or cancerous cells. Another 88 received cryotheraphy treatment.