Govt ups anti Aids campaign to eliminate new infections

By Irene Nayebare

A volunteer testing for HIV. The New Times/Timothy Kisambira

Even as the country makes gains in the fight against HIV/Aids, the main challenge remains on how to eliminate new infections, especially among vulnerable groups. Infection rates among commercial sex workers and the urban populations remain stubbornly high.


On average, one person is infected with HIV every 30 minutes in Rwanda. This means that at least two people are infected with the virus that causes Aids every hour, according to the 2012 Demographic Health Survey.


It also indicates that 3 per cent of people aged between 15-49 years old are infected with the virus.
According to Dr Sabin Nsanzimana, the coordinator of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections Care and Treatment Department in the Rwanda Biomedical Centre, Rwanda has registered 48 per cent success in eliminating new infections and has reduced the number of infected people from five to two per hour in the last five years.


“More than 90 per cent of persons infected with HIV/Aids can now access antiretroviral therapy (ARVs) which are now available in almost all health facilities across the country,” Nsanzimana says.
ARVs prolong life and the chances for an infected person to stay healthy. They also decrease the risk of an infected person passing on the virus to someone else.


According to the latest data, HIV prevalence in adult population aged from 15- 49 years is 3% estimated at 206,000 people living with HIV, among them 50,000 don’t know that they are HIV positive and/or they never contacted health facilities for HIV services.


“Prevalence among female sex workers is estimated at 51 per cent. This calls for action to accelerate prevention and avail services to key populations,” he explains.


Among women, HIV prevalence rate is 3.7 per cent while among men the prevalence rate is 2.2 per cent.


Urban areas have a higher prevalence rate (7 per cent) compared with rural areas at 2 per cent. Nation-wide, the City of Kigali has the highest HIV prevalence rate at 7.3%, which is more than twice higher than other provinces whose average is between 2 and 3 per cent.


Strategies
Among the strategies that the country is pushing to reduce infections is stepping up the circumcision campaign. In this context, about 700,000 men are expected to undergo non-surgical male circumcision by 2016.


“The removal of the foreskin makes it more difficult for HIV to enter the body. The inside skin of the foreskin is soft and moist. Near the surface of the foreskin are special cells called ‘target cells’ that allow HIV to infect a man. The amount of these ‘target cells’ in the foreskin is higher than in any other surface of the body. Also, during sex the foreskin is more likely to get tiny tears or sores that allow HIV to enter the body more easily. Male circumcision removes this vulnerable skin, and removes the ‘target cells’. After circumcision, the skin on the head and shaft of the penis becomes thicker and is less likely to tear,” Nsanzimana says.


Male circumcision can prevent HIV transmission by about 60 per cent, according to recent studies, but operation does not provide 100 per cent protection against the virus.


According to a new report released by UNICEF, Rwanda is on track to achieve Millennium Development Goal 6 (MDG 6) and virtual elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2015.


Dr Placidie Umugwaneza, in charge of fighting HIV/AIDS in RBC, says that World AIDS Day is an opportunity for the Rwandan government to highlight its efforts in reducing new HIV infections, reduce stigma index and AIDS related deaths to Zero and to demonstrate its delivery on commitments in HIV/AIDS made in 2011 in the UN General Assembly on HIV/AIDS.


“This year campaign will also be an occasion for the government to launch the new National Strategic Plan on HIV,” Umugwaneza said.


Rwanda has been hailed as a country which has made significant advances in the HIV response in developing countries; where almost every person living with HIV/AIDS has easy access to life-prolonging drugs.