The world can learn a lot from Rwanda’s way of responding to new research findings related to HIV, Dr Edward Mills, from Global Evaluative Sciences, Vancouver, Canada, has said.

Dr Mills was yesterday addressing a three-day International HIV Research Conference in Kigali.

"Research presented about the Rwandan context is tremendously exciting at the moment. Rwanda is a world leader on the response to HIV and not only in terms of the quality of research coming out of Rwanda but also the fact that you have decision makers who are willing to accept evidences and change policies according to the evidences,” he said.

The seventh edition of the International HIV Research Conference is held under the theme, "Using evidence to save lives.”

It has drawn 400 global experts and researchers on HIV/Aids.

"Estimated HIV testing and counselling coverage among pregnant women in Africa improved from 9 per cent in 2005 to 45 per cent in 2012,” Dr Mills said while presenting the HIV status of sub-Saharan Africa.

"Rwanda has made strides in the proportion of people living with HIV who have tested at least once with over 90 per cent. Rwanda is the leading country in responding to HIV and the lessons can inform other settings. You have a duty to document and communicate your successes and challenges.”

Dr Mills, who is also an adjunct professor, School of Public Health, University of Rwanda, took stock of Unaids estimates that indicate that, currently, there are 35 million people living with HIV worldwide and last year, new infections stood at 2.1 million, while 1.5 million people died from HIV-related infections.

In sub-Sahara Africa, South Africa tops the table of infected people with 6.27 million people followed by Nigeria with 3.2 million people.

Infected people in Rwanda are estimated to be around 250,000.

The head of HIV and sexually transmitted infections division at Rwanda Biomedical Centre, Dr Sabin Nsanzimana, presented Rwanda’s holistic management of HIV/Aids in the past 20 years, saying ARVs started being accessible in the country in 2002 as a new era in managing the disease.

"We have been implementing male circumcision as one of the prevention measures for HIV and figures indicate that young people are highly participating in this. In just one year, we have reached nearly 80,000 people aged between 15 and 24,” he said.

Circumcision at birth

Figures from the Ministry of Health show that the overall number of voluntary medical male circumcision performed in public facilities by age group from July 2013- June 2014 totaled to 127,045.

According to Dr Nsazimana, the number of Rwandans on ARVs stands at 133,574 as of June, from 870 in 2002.

Meanwhile, during the conference, the Minister for Health, Dr Agnes Binagwaho, presented a recent study on "Children rights to health in the context of HIV, noting that government would save more resources if medical male circumcision was conducted at birth.

"As of 2008, the cost standardised to one male circumcision procedure totals $59, while for a newborn it is $15,” she said.

The Director-General of Rwanda Biomedical Centre, Mark Herant, said the landscape for HIV/Aids is changing in many countries with a high level of coverage.

"The focus now becomes, ‘how do we improve quality and deepen our services to the populations?’ We are also facing the reality that the availability and flow of funds for HIV response is changing, meaning we understand well the evidence around HIV so that we can use the resources around effectively,” he said.

During the event, Dr Binagwaho launched a one-year campaign to engage the media in promoting HIV/Aids awareness.

The campaign stresses the role the media can play in fighting the virus.