Botswana has been recognized as a leading nation in HIV diagnosis and treatment in the world exceeding the goals for addressing the HIV crisis set by the United Nations 2020 deadline according to a new report published in The Lancet HIV
United Nation’s Program on HIV/AIDS calls on countries to ensure 90 percent of its citizens know their HIV status and ensures at least 90 percent are treated with anti-retroviral therapy to achieve a 90 percent viral suppression.
Botswana viral suppression rate is at 96 percent among the infected citizens who are mostly aged between 15 years and 49 years as per Max Essex, chair of Harvard University T.H Chan School of public Health AIDS initiative reports VOA
According to Essex Botswana has allowed international AIDS researchers and clinicians to assist in the fight.
In 2001, Botswana took the initiative of achieving the goal of testing high risk populations and ensuring the anti-AIDS drugs were accessible to all even in the remote villages
Western countries fall behind Botswana with the fight to supress the virus that causes AIDs with most reaching 60 percent of their HIV infected citizens in Europe and only 30 percent in the United States
“In the way the World Health Organization set up those goals,” Said Essex, adding, “they stated that if all countries or the world could reach those guidelines by 2020, then within 10 years of that, rates of new infections should go down by 90 percent in the world.”
Lack of cure for the disease led the United Nations to the 2020 strategy that aims at suppressing the virus through identification and treatment in order for a drop in HIV transmission rates.
