adminmeeting on Aids to discuss global response to the scourge.
The meeting, which started on Monday ends on Friday.
In a statement the National Aids Council said the recent report of the UN Secretary General indicated that more than six million people were accessing anti-retroviral treatment in low and middle income countries at the end of 2010 from 400 000 in 2003.
The statement said: “The HIV epidemic continues to outpace the response, with an estimated two new HIV infections for every individual starting treatment. Global Aids resources have flat-lined and critical sources of leadership and accountability remain untapped.”
It said to accelerate progress in the Aids response, the UN Secretary General has called on the global community to adopt six goals for 2015, targets that are to be reviewed and endorsed by participants including reducing by 50 percent the sexual transmission of HIV.
It also called on: “Providing HIV treatment for 13 million people; reduce by 50 percent tuberculosis deaths in people living with HIV; eliminate HIV transmission from mother to child, keep mothers alive, and improve the health of women, children and families; ensure equal access to education for children orphaned and made vulnerable by Aids and reduce by 50 percent the number of countries with HIV-related restrictions on entry, stay and residence.”
Zimbabwe is identified as still having high HIV infection rates. It is said to be carrying the “third largest HIV burden in Southern Africa and has one of the highest rates of premature adult mortality, largely due to HIV-related illnesses.
“Latest estimates place the 2010 adult HIV prevalence at 13,13 percent, which brings the estimated number of people living with HIV to about 1,2 million, including 145 225 children under 15. As largely is the
case elsewhere in Eastern and Southern Africa region, around 60 percent of adults living with HIV in Zimbabwe are female.”
The statement went on to say: “Heterosexual sex accounts for the bulk of new adult HIV infections in Zimbabwe, this includes transmission within unions/regular partnerships, extra-marital relations, casual heterosexual sex and sex work.
“The key drivers of the HIV spread include low and inconsistent levels of condom use, multiple concurrent partnerships, age disparate sexual relationships and low rates of male circumcision.”
It also said Mother to child transmission (MTCT) remained the second significant source of new infections approximating 1 in 3 infants born to HIV infected mothers being HIV infected.
The statement said the availability and accessibility of anti-retrovirals had decreased the HIV-related mortality in Zimbabwe. “It is estimated that in 2010 alone 59 318 adults and 11 981 children died of HIV-related illnesses.
“It is estimated that 25 percent of all children in Zimbabwe have lost to Aids one or both parents. Zimbabwe is, however, committed to achieving the vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination, zero Aids-related deaths.”
Online Reporter