As the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Region joins the global community to commemorate the World AIDS Day on 1st December, 2022 under the theme; Equalise; let us remember those who died from AIDS-related illnesses and work to ensure that our HIV response remains stronger than ever, and our region committed to end AIDS by 2030.
Almost 20 years ago, the SADC Heads of State and Government adopted the Maseru Declaration on HIV and AIDS, the first ever major high-level commitment and political will to combat the HIV and AIDS pandemic. Today, we can look back with pride at the remarkable achievements that the region has made as a result of this commitment.
We commend SADC Member States for demonstrating strong commitment and political will since the adoption of the Maseru Declaration. It is pleasing to note that some Member States have achieved the 95-95-95 targets well ahead of time, meaning that, in these Member States, 95% of all people living with HIV know their HIV status, 95% of people who know their status are on treatment, and 95% of people on HIV treatment have a suppressed viral load.
We are also on the path towards eliminating mother to child transmission of HIV in some SADC Member States. All these recorded successes give us the impetus to continue strengthening the capacity of Member States to build resilient health systems with support from the development Partners, so as to sustain our HIV response.
While the progress made by the region is impressive and commendable, there are some challenges that we need to confront going forward. Recent reports indicate that our hard earned progress on HIV and AIDS has been faltering, resources have been shrinking and inequalities have been widening and, if nothing is done now, we will once again face millions of AIDS-related deaths and millions of new HIV infections that will not only prevent us from reaching the 2030 goals but also hinder the development of the SADC Region as we remain the most affected.
It is also sad to note that HIV infection continues to be feminised. Every week more than 3000 adolescent girls and young women in our region are newly infected with HIV and recent trends among older women of reproductive age are also worrisome as there is a steady increase of new HIV infections in that age group as well. This is further compounded by the increase in Gender-Based Violence which has continued to increase vulnerability of our daughters, sisters and mothers to HIV infection. We must, therefore, ramp up our efforts to end inequalities that prevent people from accessing the much-needed services for HIV prevention and treatment.
As we commemorate this year’s World AIDS Day, we must not let down our guard as HIV and AIDS remain a threat to the development of our region. Addressing the root causes of women and girl’s vulnerability to HIV must be key in our collective response to HIV. In this regard, I appeal to each and every one of us to be change agents in our families, communities, workplaces and all other settings to achieve the societal changes that will end inequality and, subsequently, end AIDS by 2030
