OVER the past 18 years, Lesotho is reported to have made a massive progress in the distribution and administration of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART).

This emerged at the stakeholders' validation meeting piloted by the National AIDS Commission (NAC) in Maseru on Thursday last week.
While outlining the HIV and AIDS epidemiology, HIV/AIDS Manager at the Ministry of Health, Dr Tapiwa Tarumbiswa said the country had been able to reach the 90 90 90 target which focuses on the 90 percent of the population knowing their HIV status, 90 percent of the people living with HIV should be on ARTs and the 90 percent of the people living with HIV and are on ART should have their viral load suppressed.
He said the country's focus on health would make the sector sustainable and identify areas of need to scale up targeted HIV testing services.
Dr Tarumbiswa said this would include the establishment of men's corners aimed at motivating men to go to health centres, amongst others.
The HIV prevalence amongst young adults from the age of 15 and above is 22.7 percent of the country's population with young women the most infected.

“It shows there is a lot of work that needs to be done to find ways to prevent and implement preventative measures to new infections in young women,” Dr Tarumbiswa said.
Social Development Principal Secretary (PS), ’Mantšenki Mphalane said Lesotho was committed to ending AIDS by 2030 based on the National HIV and AIDS strategic plan 2018/19-2022/23 developed to guide the country towards this goal.

She said the Mid Term Review took place just in time simultaneously with the new Global AIDS Strategy 2021-2026 that sets the response for HIV/AIDS.

Across the world, the strategy has been approved and puts Lesotho in a good position to be responsive and relevant towards the creation of an HIV free generation.