Friday, March 29, 2024

Zambia records massive reduction in HIV infection – UN report

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A UN report has revealed that Zambia has drastically reduced new HIV infections by 58 per cent and achieved more than 80 per cent HIV treatment.

This is contained in a media statement released to the media by First Secretary for Press and Public Relations for Zambia at the United Nations, Mr Chibaula Silwamba.

According to UNAIDS’ World AIDS Day report for 2012 titled: RESULTS, Zambia was among countries in the world that had made immense progress in combating HIV/Aids.

“This year, Zambia has put a massive injection of funds into its health budget, increasing it by 45 per cent,” said UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.

The report most countries in sub-saharan Africa – the region with the highest HIV prevalence rate – had made significant gains in averting deaths related to AIDS.

The UN agency stated that between 2001 and 2011, the rate of new HIV infections dropped by 73 per cent in Malawi, while in Botswana by 71 percent, in Namibia by 68 per cent, in Zambia by 58 per cent and in Zimbabwe by 50 per cent.

South Africa, the country with the largest number of HIV infections, reduced new HIV infections by 41 per cent, according to UNAIDS while in Swaziland, which has the highest HIV prevalence in the world, new HIV infections dropped by 37 per cent.

The report stated that Botswana cut AIDS-related deaths by 71 per cent, Rwanda by 68 per cent, Namibia by 60 per cent, Zambia by 56 per cent and Burundi and Côte d’Ivoire by 51 per cent while Benin, Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Guniea, Lesotho, Malawi and Mali all reduced AIDS related deaths by one third.

In Zambia, Burundi, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa and Togo, the number of children newly infected fell by between 40 per cent and 59 per cent from 2009 to 2011.

Impressive gains were also made in cutting deaths from Tuberculosis (TB) in people living with HIV, according to the UNIADS report.

“India, Kenya, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe accounted for two thirds of all new people with HIV/TB co-infection being treated, but much more needs to be done. No-one should die of TB and HIV,” UNAIDS stated.

In sub-Saharan Africa, a record 2.3 million people were added to antiretroviral treatment programmes in the last two years – an increase of 59 per cent.

According to the UNAIDS report, upwards of 100 000 people living with HIV were enrolled in HIV treatment in Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia each.

“Five countries in the region have achieved more coverage of HIV treatment—Botswana, Namibia, Rwanda, Swaziland and Zambia,” the UNAIDS report stated. “Sexual behaviour among men and women has changed to become safer in numerous countries with generalized epidemics including Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria and Zambia.”

However, UNAIDS noted the “worrisome increases in AIDS-related mortality were observed in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (21 per cent) and the middle East and North Africa (17 per cent).”

At least 50 per cent of people living with HIV do not know their status, according to UNAIDS.

The report stated that more resources would be required to fight HIV and reach the zero-infection target.

31 COMMENTS

    • Good question: Often they use a combination of data sources. Sentinel or monitoring health facilities for routine data, as well as carefully collected sample survey data. Often when you have had such levels of devastation from a catastrophy such as AIDS it will take a much bigger reduction for people to feel the change. I do not think 58% is big enough, we will start feeling the change when figures hit somewhere above 75% reduction. It is like poverty. Because poverty levels are so high, our current economic progress of 7% per year is too little to make impact in a short-term – we need atleast 10% growth or above. That’s the case fior HIV/AIDS too, it will take time.

  1. Me too, cause walking int hospitals the picture is different. Who collects such such statistics?what has caused the reduction?certainly not sexual behaviour of people, cause that end is still the same if not worst.

    • Yours sounds like an assumption from the your observation at the Hospitals. This reports says more people have enrolled into HIV care and more have been put on treatment. This only has the potential to drastically reduce more infections

    • The hospital does not represent a balanced sample. The figures here are not looking at people in hospital with AIDS cases, but rather prevalence in the general populace. As a matter of fact, such figures (as 58% reduction) mean very little because the prevalence rate last year was 14% (with new infections happening at 3%) meaning we could be currently standing at 12.76% or thereabouts. Real impact will only be noticeable at over 75%. All the same, we are moving in the right direction.

  2. I think the sexual behavior has improved because people are more likely to use ‘CDs’ now than playing ‘live’.

  3. Hey guys lets go to BBC African football in numbers and vote for Chris Katongo for African Footballer of the year 2012. There are only 5 shortlisted names and results will be announced on Dec 13, 2012. Let us not allow our friends outvote our man! You can vote on BBC African Football page or send a text message The winner will be decided by African football fans, who have until 1830 GMT on Thursday, 13 December to vote for their choice.

    “You can either vote via this page or by sending an SMS from your phone to +44 7786 20 50 75:

    Text 1 for Demba Ba

    Text 2 for Younes Belhanda

    Text 3 for Didier Drogba

    Text 4 for Christopher Katongo

    Or Text 5 for Yaya Toure”

  4. Was still shocked a few days ago to learn initiation of HIV treatment was still based on CD4 count hovering around 350. Reasons being that its cheaper and government has no funds to buy ARV drugs for all. It is actually the other way round. Its more expense in trying to salvage this patients who present with opportunist infections if at all they survive. Treatment should be started based on a positive HIV test confirmed of course. A typical example of a poor nation with an expensive policy in place and everybody walk, smile with a straight face. 

  5. There never was an ‘HIV/AIDS’ epidemic. It was and is completely statistically generated, by using bad surveys and testing procedures that guarantee huge numbers of false positives.

    This is why there never was any excess mortality from HIV/AIDS in Uganda, where UNAID$ predicted that 30% of the population was ‘HIV positive’.

    (Meaning that 30% of pregnant women test positive on a single unconfirmed ELISA. Single unconfirmed ELISAs are known to test false positive for pregnancy, malaria, tb, bilharzia, etc.)

    And now these fraudsters want to claim credit for the fact that their predicted epidemic never materialized.

  6. (WASHINGTON POST) How AIDS in Africa Was Overstated
    Reliance on Data From Urban Prenatal Clinics Skewed Early Projections
    By Craig Timberg
    Thursday, April 6, 2006
    Google: “How AIDS in Africa Was Overstated” washington post

    AIDS AT 25
    Fear of Epidemic In the Mud Huts
    Randy Shilts, Chronicle Correspondent
    Sunday, June 4, 2006
    Google: “Fear of Epidemic In the Mud Huts” sfgate

  7. To quote UN statistician Jim Chin, on how UNAID$ made up their numbers in the first place (from the Washington Post article listed above):

    “It’s pure advocacy, really,” said Jim Chin, a former U.N. official who made some of the first global HIV prevalence estimates while working for WHO in the late 1980s and early 1990s. “Once you get a high number, it’s really hard once the data comes in to say, ‘Whoops! It’s not 100,000. It’s 60,000.’ ”

    Chin, speaking from Stockton, Calif., added, “They keep cranking out numbers that, when I look at them, you can’t defend them.”

  8. This is all BOGUS. Those of us who have worked for NGOs before know the real game that’s being played here.

    The numbers are skewed from the top to bottom. UN will never retract it’s messed up record to reflect the true numbers of the so-called HIV/AIDS infections.

    You don’t have to be a scientist to see through this bulsh!t. ARVs are actually killing more people than expected. Take it from me, just eat right, live right and if you are HIV positive, don’t worry yourself to death. People who are HIV + are now having HIV- babies (healthy) too without taking any medication. Science has FAILED TO EXPLAIN THIS!

    • What does live right even mean? I know someone who ate well (but not too much), who doesn’t drink or smoke, who doesn’t go for sex workers, and who became very ill with AIDS. They almost died, and had lost much weight. After starting ART, their health came back and now it’s two years since that time. I doubt you’ll even listen to me, as those who are anti-ARVs tend to listen to no one but those they agree with, but I’ll try. AIDS mortality has dropped everywhere ARVs have become available; those statistics were not the ones in question, it was the incidence and prevalence statistics. Pharmaceutical companies are not benign but antiretrovirals are well proven to extend lives, decrease AIDS symptoms, and delay onset of AIDS in HIV positive people.

  9. What’s going on bane??.? Yasila nyele or zilibwanji bwanji. All the same congrats mwakula so chitombetombe is not there anymore.  more news please!,,

  10. FYI.

    A 27 year old man of Lusaka’s Mutendere Township has developed a rare medical condition which has resulted in breasts enlargement.

    A Mtendere resident who only preferred to be called by the name of Alfred says he is shocked over the development on his body.

    He explained that this condition started after taking anti-retro viral drugs-ARVs.

    This is on MuviTV news.

    • It sounds like fat redistribution, which can be a side-effect of some ARVs, especially the older drugs. It’s not that common, but it can happen, especially if medicines are not switched when signs of lipodystrophy first appear. Poor chap.

  11. Very true. At least CD4 of less than 500, but recent research shows that treating earlier keeps the viral load down longer, especially if it is started in the first 10 weeks after infection. Zambia should put more money into detecting new infections (using NAAT or RNA PCR tests) so that those in the acute phase are able to start treatment right away, both making them far less infectious, and reducing their viral load setpoint. There was the French study presented at this year’s International AIDS Society conference that people started on ART within 10 weeks of infection and kept on it for a few years, were later able to stop taking treatment and still have an undetectable viral load.

  12. @MrK, if you read Timberg’s book or Chin’s book, they don’t say that there is no HIV epidemic. Rather, they fault the statistics that were used by UNAIDS, stating that pregnant women are by definition sexually active, so they will have a higher prevalence than the general population. But Timberg and Chin don’t deny that there are countries with serious epidemics, just that the prevalence rates were too high. Anything over 1% or 5% is considered a generalized epidemic, and while prevalence rates in Zambia were lower than first thought, the country still has a serious generalized epidemic. Other seroprevalence studies done in Zambia confirm that. And UNAIDS has been using general population data for the last few years, not antenatal data.

    • 16 AnAppealToCommonSense,

      ” @MrK, if you read Timberg’s book or Chin’s book, they don’t say that there is no HIV epidemic.”

      They say that the epidemic in Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, etc. magically disappeared, but that the data is still good for Southern Africa.

      They don’t explain how or why that is so. And by the way, the data for Zambia is based on the inclusion of a huge number of pregnant women.

      For instance, in “ZAMBIA COUNTRY REPORT Monitoring the Declaration of Commitment on HIV and AIDS and the Universal Access Biennial Report.”, it was clear that only 15% of the samples involved men.

      Men Tested 80,659 (15.7%)
      Women Tested 430,607 (84.3%)
      Pregnant Women tested 364,331 (71%)
      Total Tested 511,266 (100%)

  13. @Umupondo, it embarrasses me to even answer your ridiculous claim, but I can’t leave it unchallenged. Scientists have accounted for why HIV positive mothers don’t always have positive babies; the transmission rate is not 100% (there’s not infectious disease that’s 100% by the way) and is low, especially if the babies are not breastfed after six months and/or the mothers are on ARVs. Only the mother’s status determines transmission to the baby, and the mother’s viral load also plays a part in transmission risk. Finally, there are many of us here who have witnessed someone who was dying of AIDS get well after starting ART. There are more than enough studies, drug trials, and personal experiences to testify to the effectiveness of drugs.

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  16. This is why, quoting The Post: “We are being told the rate of infection has reduced from 16.1 per cent to 14.3 per cent.”

    (Source: “We need new HIV responses”, editorial by The Post, Fri 12 Oct. 2012, 14:00 CAT)

    Is it 14.3%? Is his huge number of pregnant women included to pad the numbers and keep the aid money going?

  17. 16 AnAppealToCommonSense,

    ” MrK, if you read Timberg’s book or Chin’s book, they don’t say that there is no HIV epidemic.”

    They say that the epidemic in Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, etc. magically disappeared, but that the data is still good for Southern Africa.

    They don’t explain how or why that is so. And by the way, the data for Zambia is based on the inclusion of a huge number of pregnant women.

    For instance, in “ZAMBIA COUNTRY REPORT Monitoring the Declaration of Commitment on HIV and AIDS and the Universal Access Biennial Report.”,
    it was clear that only 15% of the samples involved men.

    Men Tested 80,659 (15.7%)
    Women Tested 430,607 (84.3%)
    Pregnant Women tested 364,331 (71%)
    Total Tested 511,266 (100%)

    • There’s no way that any of those countries has a prevalence of less than 1%, and if the data is good, it’s just that, that doesn’t have major flaws. Timberg’s book does not say those epidemics disappeared, but it does spend many chapters discussing Uganda’s grassroots response, and how the prevalence rates did drop. Kenya is part of the book to bolster the argument that male circumcision decreases risk of transmission from female to male.

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