HARARE, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe has made major strides in its fight against HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis as shown by a sharp decline in new cases and deaths.
The southern African nation is among five countries in the world that have halved AIDS-related deaths in the past three decades.
In addition, Zimbabwe was also recently removed from the list of 30 Tuberculosis (TB) highly burdened countries worldwide.
Global Fund Zimbabwe Advocates representative Itai Rusike said that Zimbabwe has achieved a lot in addressing deaths caused by the diseases, the state-run Herald newspaper reported Wednesday.
"Over the past eight years, deaths due to AIDS decreased from 54,000 to 22,000 annually owing to improvements in antiretroviral treatment coverage and other best practices.
"This has placed Zimbabwe among five countries globally that have halved deaths due to AIDS," Rusike said.
The Global Fund has been active in fighting HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria for the past two decades and 2.2 billion U.S. dollars have been invested in the country to fight the diseases, said Rusike.
Rusike noted that the significant gains recorded over the past 20 years were, however, at serious risk of reversal due to the COVID-19 imposed challenges.
Zimbabwe has had one of the worst HIV/AIDS epidemics in the world, but since 2010, its massive scale-up of testing and treatment has slashed the rate of new infections.
The prevalence of HIV among adults stood at 12.9 percent in 2020, which corresponds to approximately 1.23 million people in Zimbabwe.
In the coming decade, Zimbabwe is targeting to achieve the UNAIDS goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030. Enditem
