Rwanda has made significant strides in managing HIV/AIDS, successfully meeting the “95-95-95” targets set by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). The “95-95-95” goal aims to diagnose 95 per cent of all HIV-positive individuals, provide antiretroviral therapy (ART) to 95 per cent of those diagnosed, and achieve viral suppression in 95 per cent of those treated by 2030. ALSO READ: World AIDS Day: MoH urges everyone to participate in the fight The Rwanda Biomedical Centre’s HIV/AIDS, STIs & Viral Hepatitis Division coordinates various activities related to the prevention, care, treatment, and surveillance of HIV/AIDS, STIs, and Viral Hepatitis. These activities include Behaviour Change Communication and Information Education and Communication initiatives aimed at mobilising communities and increasing awareness and utilisation of HIV prevention, care, and treatment services. Additionally, the division promotes HIV testing services across various platforms, including community outreach and the distribution of HIV self-test kits. Efforts also focus on preventing mother-to-child transmission, encouraging male medical circumcision, and utilising pre-exposure and post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP and PEP). ALSO READ: HIV/AIDS: RBC calls for testing, safety practices in nationwide prevention campaign For such services to work, there needs to be good political will, and officials say this has played a role in Rwanda’s success. Alexandra Hoagland, the coordinator of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which is a key funder of the fight against HIV in Rwanda, said Rwanda is at the forefront in terms of ownership of the response leadership and the achievements thus far. She noted that the US government has given $1.7 billion to Rwanda since 2004 when PEPFAR was introduced in the country, and she notes that they can see a lot of that funding going through the Ministry of Health in “some excellent programming.” “We see it in our flagship programmes such as prevention of Mother to Child Transmission, Test and Start, which I believe launched in 2016, which really changed a lot of lives, especially PLHIV (People Living with HIV) who were able to access treatment immediately,” she noted, on the 2023 World AIDS Day. At the same event, Dr Corneille Ntihabose, the Head of Clinical and Public Health Services at the Ministry of Health, talked about how after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, the government put up efforts to build the health infrastructure, the finance system, and putting to proper use the funds that were mobilised internationally and locally. ALSO READ: A look at PrEP and PEP in Rwanda’s HIV prevention efforts Deo Mutambuka, the Executive Secretary of RPP+, the organisation that brings together all HIV-related organisations, said the environment of HIV care and prevention is conducive because Rwanda gives a seat and a voice to communities at the centre of the HIV interventions. For example, he pointed out that communities of PLHIV are always engaged in the development of national programmes for HIV and TB, and peer education engagement in HIV prevention, care, and treatment. “In terms of the fight against HIV-related stigma and discrimination, RRP+ recognises the effort made. For example, after an advocacy made, MINEDUC has drafted a guide to fight against stigma and discrimination in schools,” he noted. According to the Rwanda Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment (RPHIA), a national household-based survey conducted between October 2018 and March 2019, the prevalence of HIV among adults in Rwanda was 3.0 per cent. There are an estimated 5,400 new cases of HIV annually among adults in Rwanda, according to the Rwanda Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment.
