Zambia’s new HIV infections per annum among adults has dropped from 67,000 to 43,000 per annum. Speaking at the April 2019 spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, National development planning minister Alexander Chiteme stated that the Zambian health systems has scored some notable achievements.
Chiteme called for a sustainable financing to reduce the huge economic impact of HIV on developing countries, increase research to find the cure, reduce stigma and scale up support to rural communities. He further called for concerted efforts to broaden research into finding the cure to diseases and addressing disparities in the provision of support to people living with HIV/AIDS in urban and rural areas.
The minister was speaking at the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the Fund’s Headquarters in Washington DC when he participated in the High-Level meeting on Economic Impact of HIV Spending and Joint Efforts to Plan for a Sustainable HIV response.
Chiteme disclosed that more than 4 million people access HIV Counseling and testing services annually and over 75 percent of people living with HIV are on life-saving anti-retroviral treatment. The development planning minister said estimated annual new infections among adults aged 15+ continue to decline from 67,000 in 2009 to 43,000 in 2018, while those for children aged 0-14 years declined from 23,000 to 8,700.
He added that the annual AIDS related deaths have decreased from 69,000 in 2002 to 19,000 in 2018. He said Zambia had made substantial progress in the response to HIV and AIDS. “I want to assure you that government will continue to develop mechanisms for its long-term sustainability of the HIV response in Zambia.
We will embrace the National AIDS Spending Assessment (NASA) principles to ensure that we are making right decisions in the allocation of resources for the HIV response.”
