Rwanda has registered significant progress in the treatment of HIV/AIDS despite the Covid-19 outbreak, which has derailed global plans and efforts to fight against HIV. The country achieved two of the three 90–90–90 HIV treatment targets (90% of people living with HIV know their HIV status, of whom 90% are on antiretroviral treatment and of whom 90% are virally suppressed). Despite slightly falling short on the first target, the country has generally made remarkable gains. At least 84% of the people living with HIV in Rwanda know their HIV status, 97.5% are on antiretroviral treatment and 90.1% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy have viral suppression. The country cannot rest on its success. It still has to close gaps and end the AIDS epidemic in the next ten years. However, stigma and discrimination, coupled with social inequalities and exclusion, are still key barriers to achieving this ambitious target. Globally, according to UNAIDS, marginalized populations who fear judgement, violence or arrest struggle to access sexual and reproductive health services, especially those related to contraception and HIV prevention. Stigma against people living with HIV, particularly the youth population, is still commonplace, and to end it by 2030 there’s need to intensify sensitization of Rwandans. We must increase education and empower grassroots communities working to make the situation better. By and large, the country is on course to winning the AIDS battle thanks to the political will and urgency for action towards this killer disease. We can pick some lessons from this success on how to deal with epidemics and public health challenges. Also, in addition to the Covid-19, the recent Ebola outbreak in neighbouring countries has strengthened and refined Rwanda’s experiences in responding to deadly diseases. Part of this success can be attributed to the ability to train health workers on infectious prevention and control, surveillance as well as other aspects of disease outbreak response such as risk communication and community engagement. The collaboration and partnerships between countries and global institutions has been a successful model in the fight against HIV and other outbreaks. Sharing resources, capacity and ideas, as well as best practices has proved to be very effective. This model must be harnessed and sustained.
