By Lwazi Dlamini
In the face of the rising new HIV infections, the National Emergency Response Council On HIV and AIDS (NERCHA) has declared war, formulating a new Eswatini National Multisectoral HIV and AIDS Strategic Framework 2024-2028 in a bid to end AIDS as a public threat by 2030 in Eswatini.
Under the theme: ‘Sicondzene ngco ne-AIDS; Asiyesabi’, NERCHA, a government parastatal established in 2001 through an Act of Parliament, made the bold declaration through new Director Dr. Nondumiso Ncube when addressing members of the Editor’s Forum and presenting the new strategic framework on Thursday at Open House in Eveni.
“We have become complacent as a nation and that is worrying. We all have a role to play and the data we have now shows that the prevalence of new infections is in our young generation. We all need to play our part.
We cannot be complacent,”
Under NERCHA’s coordination, Eswatini made significant progress in implementing the NSF 2018-2023.
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In the context of health, though there were social and economic disruptions and challenges associated with the Covid-19 era, Eswatini achieved the global UNAIDS targets of 95-95-95 in advance of the 2025 target date, providing clear evidence of the effectiveness of the country’s HIV treatment programmes.
The Strategic Framework document reflects that there was an observation of a decline in HIV incidence which shows the effects of expanding treatment coverage and adherence and the benefits of using the treatment as a prevention approach.
When making a presentation to the Editors Forum, NERCHA’s Head of Strategic Information, Bheka Mziyako said, however, gaps remain in the HIV response which has given birth to the new Eswatini National
Multisectoral HIV and AIDS Strategic Framework 2024-2028 which was launched last week by the Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini.
“For example, women continue to bear a higher risk of contracting HIV than men as more than half the Women Living with HIV (WLHIV) are aged between 35 and 49 years.
There is a significant disparity in incidence between adult men (0.17%) and women (1.17%). Although Eswatini’s overall score is high, men aged 25-34 years are lagging behind in achieving VLS (5).
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While the expansion of Voluntarily Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) provided additional prevention benefits for men, intensified evidence-based prevention interventions, are needed to further reduce the risk of HIV acquisition among women, particularly young women,” Mziyako said.
Amongst the key achievements by Eswatini in the 2018-203 Strategic framework was surpassing the UNAIDS targets ahead of the 2025 target date, achieving 94-97-96 in 2021.
Also, the universal ART initiation where the country adopted the WHO ‘Treat All’ recommendation, enabling universal antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation for those diagnosed with HIV.
