ABUJA –Â Dr Matshidiso Moeti, Regional Director, World Health Organisation (WHO), has said HIV testing is essential in expanding treatment and ensuring that all people living with HIV can live healthy and productive lives.
She added that, it is also crucial in ensuring that 90% of people living with HIV know their HIV status; 90% of people diagnosed with HIV receive antiretroviral therapy; and 90% of people living with HIV, and who are on treatment, achieve viral load suppression. HIV testing empowers people to make choices about HIV prevention specifically how to protect themselves and their loved ones.
She made this known in her message to commemorate 2018 World AIDS Day saying, the world community will come together to mark the 30th anniversary of World AIDS Day with this yearâ€
s theme as: ‘Know your status.†The only way to determine a personâ€s HIV status is for them to have an HIV test.
According to her, “Significant progress has been made in the AIDS response since 1988, and today four in five (20.8 million) people living with HIV in the African Region know their status. In addition, more than three in five (15.3 million) people are accessing life-saving antiretroviral therapy. There is a more than 30% reduction in AIDS related deaths since 2010 and people living with HIV are living longer, healthier lives thanks to the sustained access to antiretroviral therapy.
“However, this progress is not uniform in our Region. For example, in West and Central Africa, only one in two (2.9 million) people living with HIV know their status. That is why WHO, partners and member states in the sub-region are working together to accelerate the expansion of HIV testing programmes in order to reach people living with HIV who do not know their status and ensuring that they are linked to quality and prevention services.
The post World AIDs Day: WHO Calls For Regular Test For People Living With HIV appeared first on Independent Newspapers Nigeria.
World AIDs Day: WHO Calls For Regular Test For People Living With HIV
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