Viral load suppression among young people and adolescents falling behind in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe
AVERT - "A number of southern African countries are making good progress towards the 90-90-90 Fast-Track Targets, but efforts to reach younger populations need to be redoubled.
The average figure for viral load suppression among young people and adolescents is only 42% in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, compared to an average of 65% for community viral load suppression among all adults living with HIV in these three countries, according to new data. (...)
Figures across all three countries show that older people are more likely to be virally suppressed than their younger counterparts. In Zambia, just 34% of young women aged between 15 and 24 and 35.7% of young men are virally suppressed. For all adults living with HIV in Zambia, the results are impressive – at 89.2% – but highlight the major differences in viral suppression across age groups.
In Malawi, 86.5% of HIV-positive women aged 55 to 64 are virally suppressed. This is compared to 51.9% of women aged between 15 and 24, and just 36.7% of males of the same age. 90.8% of all people on treatment are virally suppressed in the country.
In Zimbabwe, viral suppression has reached 48.6% among HIV-positive females aged 15 to 24 and 40.2% among HIV-positive males of that age. (...)
Dr Tom Frieden, the Director of the USA Centers for Disease Control (CDC), noted: “Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have made remarkable progress helping people learn their HIV status, get life-saving HIV treatment, and suppress the virus completely.”
“To further reduce spread of HIV in this new era of Test and Start, we need to reach more men and more young women to provide testing and immediate start of HIV treatment.”" (Photo: Ulrika/Flickr)