On Monday, December 1, Rwanda joined the rest of the world to mark World Aids Day. Under the national theme, the role of the Media in early HIV treatment to reduce Aids-related morbidity and mortality. Dr Sabin Nsanzimana, the head of HIV division at Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC), said continued efforts to work with media in encouraging people to frequently test for the virus, and those found positive to start early treatment. Statistics from the Ministry of Health show that on average, one person is infected with HIV every 30 minutes in the country. The current prevalence of HIV/Aids in the country among adult population aged from 15-19 remains at 3 per cent in the last five years, with numbers estimated at 206,000. While HIV prevalence among children is about 1,000. Cautiously, because of its prevalence in sex workers, those interested need to understand that, it’s still high among the female sex workers (FSWs), standing at 51 per cent. However, by the end of last year, the country had registered 48 per cent success in eliminating new infections and reduced the number of infected people from five to two per hour in the last five years. According to Nsanzimana, government intends to raise condom use by 13 per cent, decreasing the estimated new infections in children from 1,000 to less than 200 and increase the fraction of male adult circumcision from 13 per cent to 66 per cent by 2018. Still on HIV, paediatric coverage is still lagging in low- and middle-income countries. In 2013, less than one in four children living with HIV had access to ART, compared to over one in three adults. Because of this, experts said there should be no room for complacency against HIV. First Lady Jeannette Kagame, too, called for innovation in the fight against HIV/Aids as an additional mechanism in the prevention and treatment of the disease. While speaking at the closure of the seventh edition of the International HIV Research Conference, held under the theme: ‘Using evidence to save lives’ Mrs Kagame told participants that by exchanging evidences and experiences, we are better able to continue the collective struggle against HIV/Aids. She also commended the researchers for working hard to mitigate the impact of HIV/Aids on the world population.
