Swaziland nears HIV containment goals

Swaziland has almost reached the 90-90-90 goals for HIV testing, treatment, and viral suppression set for 2020, Medpage Today reports. Nationally representative household surveys found that in 2016, almost 85 percent of Swazi adults had been tested for HIV, more than 87 percent of those who had tested positive were on antiretroviral therapy (ART), and nearly 92 percent of those on ART had viral loads suppressed to undetectable levels. HIV incidence was almost halved, falling from 2.48 percent in 2011 to 1.39 in 2016. These results were reported in a presentation at the 9th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Research (IAS 2017) in Paris, France, on 24 July 2017. The Medpage Today article describes how reaching more people with HIV testing, treatment, and prevention services — including more than doubling the number of men who had received voluntary medical male circumcisions from 2011 to 2016 — helped the country achieve these milestones (Medpage Today, 27 July 2017).