Rwanda's HIV prevalence estimated at 3 pct in 2019
Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - The estimated overall HIV prevalence rate in Rwanda is approximately 3 percent among the general population (15-49 years), according to the latest official figures obtained on Tuesday.
Rwanda's total number of people living with HIV stands at approximately 210,200 adults, with more women (3.7%) than men (2.2%) living with the scourge, according to the results from the nationwide survey carried out since October 2018.
The survey dubbed the Rwanda Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (RPHIA), whose results are set to be released on 2 December, was conducted by the Rwandan Government and stakeholders to establish new infections, the number of people living with HIV, and viral load suppression among adults and adolescent children, it said.
The survey is a joint project by the Ministry of Health through the Rwanda Biomedical Centre and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning through the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) in coordination with ICAP at Columbia University and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and support from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
Currently, the survey shows that HIV prevalence is highest in Kigali where it is 6.3 per cent and is relatively uniform throughout the other provinces (2 per cent to 3 per cent).
Prevalence of viral load suppression (VLS) among all HIV-positive adults was at 76.0 %: 79.1% ratio among women and 70.5% among men, the report said.
-0- PANA TWA/AR 26Nov2019
