KIGALI, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda is committed to achieving the UNAIDS 90-90-90 target that helps end the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Rwandan minister of health Diane Gashumba said here on Friday.
Rwanda has strengthened efforts to contain the deadly virus by launching a nationwide awareness and prevention campaign aimed at stemming new HIV infections in the country, Gashumba said at an UNAIDS conference in Kigali, capital city of Rwanda.
The 90-90-90 target aims to realize that by 2020, 90 percent of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status; 90 percent of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy; and 90 percent of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.
By June 2018, about 89 percent of Rwandans living with HIV knew their status, of which 92.3 percent were on treatment and 91 percent of those on treatment had their viral load suppressed, the minister said.
More than 97 percent of health facilities in Rwanda offer prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV service, which has reduced the mother-to-child transmission to 1.5 percent, she said.
Rwanda is on track to eliminate the deadly virus and hit the UNAIDS target, said Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS.
The conference, organized by UNAIDS and the government of Rwanda, aimed at reviewing the current status of global HIV response in context with 2018's World AIDS Day campaign.
HIV prevalence rate in Rwanda has been at 3 percent since 2005, Rwanda Biomedical Center said in November.
