ZIMBABWE IS FIRST AFRICAN COUNTRY TO APPROVE INJECTABLE HIV PREVENTION DRUG

Sat 22 October 2022:

Zimbabwe has become the first nation in Africa and the third nation overall to approve an HIV prevention drug that the World Health Organization recently recommended (WHO).

Zimbabwe has approved the use of long-acting injectable cabotegravir (CAB-LA) as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention, recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) earlier this year making it the first African nation and third in the world to do so. Regulators in the United States and Australia have already backed the use of the drug.

“CAB-LA may be offered to people at substantial risk of HIV acquisition as part of comprehensive HIV prevention approaches,” the WHO had previously indicated. In July, the global health agency recommended the drug saying that it is highly effective at reducing the transmission risk among people at most risk of contracting HIV.

The recommendation was reportedly made in light of observing a surge of HIV infections globally. “HIV prevention efforts have stalled, with 1.5 million new HIV infections in 2021…the same as in 2020. There were 4000 new infections every day in 2021, with key populations and their sexual partners accounting for 70% of HIV infections globally.”

The key populations WHO was referring to reportedly include sex workers, men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, people in prisons, and transgender people. According to the local media, in most African nations, sex workers and people from the LGBTQIA+ community are often overlooked in the context of access to healthcare because of “laws and societal segregation”.

According to WHO, the intramuscular injectable long-acting form of PrEP has to be administered with the first two injections four weeks apart, followed thereafter by an injection every eight weeks. CAB-LA injections every two months are safe and highly effective in reducing the risk of contracting HIV, said the report.

In a statement, the WHO has also welcomed this decision and called it a “crucial step” for the African nation, adding that it would support them “to design and develop programmes so that CAB-LA can be implemented, safely and effectively, for greatest impact”.

According to media reports, the number of AIDS-related deaths in Zimbabwe decreased from at least 130,000 in 2002 to 20,000 in 2021. The nation also started the 90-90-90 initiative last year, which calls for 90% of people with HIV to be aware of their status, 90% to receive antiretroviral therapy, and 90% to have the virus suppressed. The initiative’s goal is to end AIDS by 2030.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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