As Malawi commences its term as a newly elected member of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB), the President and First Lady have emphasized their commitment to leading the AIDS response in the country and ending AIDS by 2030.

The President and First Lady of Malawi expressed their commitment to Malawi's PCB membership, and to work towards a strong Political Declaration at the United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS, which will take place in June 2016 Meeting, during discussions with UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Jan Beagle. Ms Beagle is visiting Malawi and meeting with stakeholders from the government, civil society and international partners to prepare the Malawi’s participation at the PCB for the 2016–2018 term and UN High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS.

In 2014, an estimated 1.1 million people were living with HIV in Malawi, the prevalence rate being 10%—one of the highest in east and southern Africa. However, Malawi is making significant strides in scaling up its response, including by being the first country in the region to officially endorse the 90–90–90 treatment target in its national strategic AIDS plan.

The results have been significant. According to latest national data, some 600 000 Malawians are estimated to be receiving antiretroviral therapy and the number of annual new HIV infections has been reduced from 89 000 in 2004 to 42 000 in 2014. Moreover, Malawi’s bold decision in 2011 to implement option B+, the approach that recommends starting treatment for pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV regardless of CD4 count, resulted in a sevenfold increase in the number of women initiated on antiretroviral therapy and a decrease of mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 66%, according to latest government data.

In discussions with Ms Beagle, President Arthur Peter Mutharika recognized the critical importance of UNAIDS’ support to ensuring that Malawi’s HIV response is supported by one of the largest grants made by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. President Mutharika also stressed that he looked forward to a strong outcome from the upcoming United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS.

The First Lady of Malawi, Gertrude Mutharika, reflected on the priorities for her country’s PCB membership and the High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS. The First Lady and Ms Beagle also discussed opportunities for leveraging her role as Vice-Chair of the Organisation of African First Ladies against AIDS to help enable the AIDS response in Malawi and beyond to be Fast-Tracked.

Welcoming Malawi to PCB membership, Ms Beagle commended Malawi on the political leadership shown by the early adoption of option B+, as well as the integration of the prevention targets in the national strategic plan, emphasizing that such examples of leadership can help ensure bold outcomes at the High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS in June.

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UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé met with the President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, on 26 November in Malabo. During the meeting, Mr Sidibé stressed the need for Equatorial Guinea to decentralize HIV testing and access to treatment to the district level.

With HIV prevalence estimated at 6.2% in 2014, Equatorial Guinea has taken steps to scale up its response to HIV. The country is fully funding its HIV response and access to treatment is free of charge. The opening of additional health centres has allowed Equatorial Guinea to scale up its programme to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Estimated coverage of pregnant women who access antiretroviral medicines increased from 61% in 2011 to 74% in 2014.

The President said the country is committed to working closely with UNAIDS towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030. He thanked UNAIDS for opening an office in Equatorial Guinea.

During his visit to the country from 25 to 26 November, Mr Sidibé signed a host agreement with the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He also met the Prime Minister, the Minister of Health and the minister in charge of HIV.

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Fifteen Senegalese mayors have endorsed the Paris Declaration to end the AIDS epidemic in their cities. Since the majority of people living with HIV reside in urban areas, accelerating the AIDS response in cities could considerably contribute to reaching the HIV treatment target by 2020 and eliminating mother-to-child transmission in Senegal.

The cities that have committed to Fast-Tracking the HIV response are Dakar, Guédiawaye, Pikine, Rufisque, Ziguinchor, Saint Louis, Kaolack, Mbour, Tambacounda, Kolda, Thiès, Bignona, Bounkiling, Kaffrine and Fatick.

The mayors of these and 30 other cities participated in an event on 3 November in Dakar, when the Association of Senegalese Mayors signed a memorandum of understanding with Microsoft. The partnership, part of Microsoft’s CityNext programme, will help Senegalese cities innovate and better serve their citizens in areas such as health, education and transportation. 

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UNAIDS has welcomed the signing of new grants between Malawi and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria worth more than US$ 332 million. The agreement brings the total Global Fund commitment to Malawi to US$ 616 million for the period 2014-2017, the highest per capita allocation to any country globally.

The agreement will allow the further expansion of treatment and prevention programmes for all three diseases and build stronger health systems. Community based approaches to HIV prevention and programmes to diagnose new cases of tuberculosis will be scaled up. At the same time as he signed the new agreement with the Global Fund Executive Director, Mark Dybul, the President of Malawi, Peter Mutharika, committed an additional US$ 30 million from domestic resources to bolster the country’s health system.

Malawi has 1.1 million people living with HIV. It has increased the number of people accessing antiretroviral medicines from a few thousand in 2003 to more than 536 000 at the end of 2014.

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The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, STOPAIDS and actor Colin Farrell hosted a gathering at the Elizabeth Taylor Grit and Glamour exhibition at the Getty Images Gallery in London, United Kingdom, to announce their commitment to the UNAIDS Fast-Track approach to achieve the 90–90–90 treatment target in Malawi’s Mulanje District.

The Mulanje District has been particularly affected by HIV and despite the efforts of health-care workers and the Malawi Ministry of Health, health services in the district remain weak. According to The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, adult HIV prevalence is around 17% and approximately 70 000 people in the district are living with HIV, making it one of the most affected regions in the world.

Recognizing the need to bring health services closer to people in remote areas of Malawi, The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation has been working in the Mulanje District since 2004 and has established seven mobile health clinics that provide HIV prevention and testing services.

Every day, the seven clinics rotate to a new location. The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation estimates that an average of 1000 patients were seen every day in 2014—40% were children under the age of five. Furthermore, it estimates that every one of the 900 000 residents in Malawi’s Phalombe and Mulanje Districts now lives within an hour’s walk to life-sustaining health-care services—an important achievement, especially given the country’s challenging road infrastructure.

At the event in London, The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation called for more partners to join and form a new wave of mutually reinforcing strategies to achieve the UNAIDS 90–90–90 treatment target in Mulanje District under the leadership of the District Health Office.

The Elizabeth Taylor Grit and Glamour photo exhibition served as the backdrop at the event, featuring images that spanned decades of her career as an actress and activist. Actor Colin Farrell opened the evening by welcoming guests and honouring the late Elizabeth Taylor.

Speakers included Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale, First Minister of Scotland 2001–2007, and architect of the Scotland–Malawi Co-operation Agreement, and Joel Goldman, Managing Director, of The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, who urged support for additional funding to scale up HIV prevention, testing and treatment programmes in the Mulanje District.

Singer/songwriter and UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador Annie Lennox closed the event, thanking the organizations in the room for their commitment to achieving the UNAIDS 90–90–90 treatment target in Malawi. 

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During his visit to Djibouti, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé met President Ismail Omar Guelleh to discuss the country’s ongoing response to the AIDS epidemic.

During his three-day visit, Mr Sidibé took part in an event held to mark the acceleration of a campaign to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. He also participated in a round-table discussion to explore ways of securing sustainable financing for the country’s AIDS response.

There were around 9900 people living with HIV in Djibouti at the end of 2014 and HIV prevalence among adults aged 15–49 years old was 1.6%. Fewer than one in five has access to antiretroviral medicines.

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Health investments made through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) partnership have saved 17 million lives, according to the Global Fund results report 2015, released on 21 September.

The report shows that the Global Fund partnership has made remarkable gains against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria and provides a broad overview of the results achieved to date.

The results show that programmes supported by the Global Fund have ensured access to HIV treatment for 8.1 million people, a 22% increase since the previous year, and the number of tuberculosis cases detected and treated increased by 11%, to reach 13.2 million. For malaria, the partnership distributed 548 million mosquito nets to protect children and families from the disease, an annual increase of 32%.

According to the report, scientific advances, innovative solutions and increased global support are saving lives at a steadily increasing rate each year—more than two million—putting the partnership on track to save 22 million lives by the end of 2016.

The Global Fund combines the strength of governments, civil society, the private sector and people affected by HIV, TB and malaria. The Global Fund is also strengthening its collaboration with key partners, such as UNAIDS, to build stronger country ownership of programmes that address the rights of people most affected by the diseases.

Kenya HIV Situation Room centralizes HIV data to ensure more effective and precise programming and reach more people with life-saving services  

NAIROBI/GENEVA, 17 September 2015—The President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, and the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé, have launched an innovative new tool to track progress and identify gaps in HIV programming in Kenya.

The Kenya HIV Situation Room brings together logistics and service delivery data to produce a more comprehensive picture and understanding of Kenya’s epidemic. The Kenya HIV Situation Room will enable quick feedback on results at the county and community levels and identify any bottlenecks and access issues. Its aim is to speed up and streamline communications between policy-makers and implementers and to help Kenya stay on track to reach its national health targets and improve the lives of people living with and affected by HIV across the country.

“As we all know what gets measured gets done,” said President Kenyatta, “I am pleased that today the Internet based dashboard, the Kenya HIV Situation Room has been unveiled. The use of ICT is a priority for my government”. 

Latest data from the Kenya HIV Situation Room shows that Kenya is close to having 800 000 people on treatment.

“High velocity data is critical for insights into a more effective and efficient response to HIV. President Kenyatta’s leadership will help Africa accelerate progress towards ending the AIDS epidemic as part of the sustainable development goals,” said Mr Sidibé. “It can serve in a similar manner to track progress against other diseases, such as tuberculosis and malaria.”   

By adopting a people-centred approach to its response to ensure that no one is left behind, Kenya has been able to accelerate progress towards ending its AIDS epidemic. New HIV infections fell by 77% from 250 000 [220 000 - 290 000] from their peak in 1993 to 56 000 [47 000 - 67 000] in 2014.

AIDS-related deaths were reduced by 74% from 130 000 [100 000 - 170 000] at the peak in 2003 to 33 000 [25 000 - 45 000] in 2014 as access to antiretroviral treatment was scaled up. In 2014, around 57% [50%-66%] of adults living with HIV in Kenya had access to the lifesaving medicines and 67% [59%-78%] of pregnant women living with HIV had access to medicine to prevent transmission of the virus to their child. This has resulted in a 74% decline in new HIV infections among children since the peak in 1994.

The Kenya HIV Situation Room will enable AIDS programme staff to localize where efforts need to be intensified. This more accurate programming will help to ensure that mothers have access to HIV testing early on in their pregnancy, that children living with HIV have regular access to care and treatment and that antiretroviral medicines are replenished quickly should stock-outs occur. All information is measured by each facility and service delivery point and fed back to the Kenya HIV Situation Room. The information is anonymous to ensure that full confidentiality is maintained.

The Government of Kenya and UNAIDS have worked together to bring four different data sets into one tool: data from the District Health Information System; information from the Kenya Medical Supply Agency; Kenya’s HIV estimates; and data from the National AIDS Control Council on programme implementers and service delivery.

The Kenya HIV Situation Room, developed by the National AIDS Control Council and the Kenyan Ministry of Health in collaboration with UNAIDS, is supported by the Government of Japan, which contributed resources as part of its continued support to improving monitoring and evaluation of the global AIDS epidemic.

During the event in Nairobi, President Kenyatta also reported progress made in reaching adolescents with HIV services and announced that Kenya would be launching a new Presidential campaign against stigma and discrimination.

“Our constitution guarantees every child a right to education, the highest available standard of health and protection from all forms of discrimination.” said President Kenyatta, “We cannot change anyone’s HIV status but we can change our attitude. Let us stop stigma and let us stop it right now.”

The campaign is designed to encourage young people to know their HIV status as part of the Kenya Fast-Track plan to reduce new HIV infections and increase access to treatment among adolescents and young people.   

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.