Government to End HIV/AIDS by 2030

Government intends to embark on an ambitious program to end AIDS by the year 2030 amid revelation that HIV infections in the country continue rising.
Speaking during commemorations of World AIDS Day in Lusaka on 1 December 2021, Health Minister Sylvia Masebo said the government is concerned by the rising HIV infections which she said might reverse the gains made in the country’s efforts to fight the pandemic.
Masebo said the country recorded 51 000 new HIV infections in the year 2020 alone.
In another report, Acting Livingstone District Health Director, Joseph Lungu indicated that the tourist capital, Livingstone, has continued recording one of the highest HIV/AIDS Prevalence rates in the country maintaining the 25.3 percentage rate in 2021.
Mr. Lungu said in the last one year, the district recorded 1 660 new HIV infections, adding that currently, the city has twenty two thousand one hundred and forty people on antiretroviral treatment.
Masebo said the continued increase in infections is due to inequalities in the cultural, economic, social and legal spheres, adding that the government intends to address these.
Among others, the government will review existing policies and strategies while also fast tracking programmes to end the pandemic by 2030.
[ZNBC]