JAKARTA - Zimbabwe became the first country in Africa and third in the world to approve HIV prevention drugs recently recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Regulators in Australia and the US have provided their support for the use of a long-work injection cabotegravir (CAB-LA), and WHO welcomes Zimbabwe's move.
Zimbabwe's fight against HIV can be seen after the AIDS-related death toll fell from around 130,000 in 2002 to 20,000 in 2021.
Zimbabwe last year unveiled a strategic plan to end AIDS by 2030 and has achieved a target known as 90-90-90 90% of people living with HIV know their status; 90% get anti-corruption treatment; and 90% have suppressed viruses.
Zimbabwe's healthcare system faces extreme difficulties amid the country's economic crisis and no one at the Ministry of Health can comment on the new drug.
The WHO said in a statement that regulatory approval was an "important step", adding that it would support Zimbabwe "to design and develop programs so that the CAB-LA can be implemented, safely and effectively, for the biggest impact", as quoted by The Guardian, Thursday, October 20.
The drug has updated its hopes of further reducing deaths in southern Africa and followed WHO's recommendations in July that CAB-LA is highly effective at reducing risks among people in same-sex relationships contracting HIV.
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