The number of people living with HIV in Mozambique rose from 2.2 to 2.4 million between 2021 and 2022, according to Deputy Health Minister Ilesh Jani.
Presenting the latest data on HIV and AIDS on 16 March in Maputo, at a national meeting of the Programme to Control Sexually Transmitted Infections, Jani said at least 266 people are infected by HIV every day (230 adults and 36 children).
"Prevention must continue to be our main priority", stressed Jani. "One of the challenges in preventive actions, which needs more effective responses and without taboos, concerns increased geographical coverage of interventions to identify and offer a package of prevention to key population groups, taking into consideration the social and structural barriers they face".
Self-testing, recently introduced in Mozambique, is one of the strategies that should be used, he said, "since it can increase awareness of one's HIV status".
The vast majority of HIV-positive Mozambicans are undergoing treatment. Jani said that more than 96 per cent of them are receiving the life-prolonging anti-retroviral therapy, compared with 74 per cent in 2021.
Despite these advances, stigma and discrimination are continuing to block access to treatment.
"The Mozambican government", said Jani, "believes that people living with HIV have the same rights as anybody else, and it is unacceptable that they should be discriminated against".
"Our behaviour as health professionals should mirror our commitment to zero discrimination", he declared.
