From Fred Ezeh, Abuja

World Health Organization (WHO) admitted, yesterday, that Africa has made significant progress against HIV/AIDS over the past decade, reducing new infections by 43 percent and nearly halving AIDS-related deaths.

WHO confirms HIV infections’

Nevertheless, it maintained that the continent is still unlikely to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, with many countries falling behind key elimination milestones, while COVID-19 aggravating challenges.

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WHO said its recent analysis suggested that, to achieve the 2030 global development goal of ending AIDS, countries must ensure that by 2025, 95 percent of people living with HIV know their status (target 1), 95 percent of those who know their status are on treatment (target 2), and 95 percent of those receiving treatment have their viral load suppressed (target 3).

It recalled that the fast-track strategy to end AIDS was initiated in December 2015 by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and in December 2020, the new 95-95-95 five-year plan replaced the previous targets.

Communications Officer, WHO Regional Office for Africa, Collins Boakye-Agyemang, in a statement, said WHO is tracking progress toward the 95-95-95 targets with a scorecard which was released few days ago at the International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa gathering in Durban, South Africa.