MAPUTO, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Mozambican National Council for Combating AIDS (CNCS) said Tuesday that the annual deaths caused by HIV/AIDS in the country were currently estimated at 51,000, down from the peak in 2006 with 76,000 deaths.
"We started with low numbers of deaths, then went up, but with the introduction of antiretrovirals the tendency is to decrease," said Franciso Mbofana, executive secretary of CNCS in an interview with the country's largest newspaper Noticias.
He was speaking on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the foundation of CNCS.
Failure in the continuity of treatment is the main cause to the high death rate of AIDS in the country, said Mbofana.
"There are individuals who start medication and after 12 months they do not continue treatment. These are about 30 percent of the patients," said Mbofana, adding that discrimination and the difficulties of access to health facilities are what lead many people to abandon treatment, or even to seek medical help.
The health official said the goal of his institution is to reduce at least 25 percent of new infections by 2023, and even more by the end of 2025. Enditem
