Brenna Matendere
After successfully hosting the 22nd edition of International Conference on Aids and STIs in Africa (ICASA) last year, Zimbabwe has doubled up on meeting HIV targets with the latest development being hosting the of the HIV research symposium by the National Aids Council (NAC).
The research symposium was held yesterday in Harare to address the 95- 95-95 HIV targets among children.
The 95-95-95 HIV targets are based on a declaration that calls on the United Nation’s member states to ensure that 95 percent of people living with HIV know their HIV status, 95 percent of people who know their status are receiving HIV treatment, and 95 percent of people on treatment are virally suppressed.
The symposium was in line with last year’s objectives of ICASSA focused on research, policies, and developments related to HIV and Aids as well as STIs in Africa.
ICASA is a biennial conference organised by the Society for Aids in Africa (SAA).
The conference provides a platform for researchers, healthcare professionals, activists, policymakers and advocates sharing their experiences and expertise, and to network and collaborate on efforts to combat the HIV and Aids epidemic as well as strengthen the health systems in Africa.
In following up with objectives of the conference, Nac organized the symposium held in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Child Care, the University of Zimbabwe, the Centre for Sexual Health and HIV AIDS Research Zimbabwe (CeSHHAR) and the Biomedical
Research and Training Institute.
It ran under the theme Accelerating 95-95-95 HIV targets among children.
Speaking on behalf of the NAC chief executive officer Dr Benard Madzima, Monitoring and
Evaluation Director at the organisation, Dr Amon Mpofu said NAC makes use of evidence utilisation to make informed decisions at policy and programme levels.
“Ending AIDS by 2030 requires the use of evidence and strategic information to optimise the response and move away from one-size-fits-all interventions to equal and electrographic-specific interventions,” he said.
“We are fully aware that evidence and strategic information are part of our advantage, including in HIV and AIDS research priorities.
“I hope you have seen and are making use of the HIV, AIDS research database, the HIV, AIDS research support grants, and this platform to disseminate the findings. The National AIDS Council is collaborating with various stakeholders to make this happen,” he added.
Dr Mpofu said the research symposium has become a sort after event in the region.
Last year, research from Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe on HIV found out safer and effective
options for second-line HIV treatment in children.
The research was presented during the 12th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV
Science (IAS 2023) held in Brisbane.
In coming up with the research findings, experts from Zimbabwe who joined their continental
counterparts made all children randomised to take one of two NRTI backbone medicines.
CD4 cell counts increased across all arms and there was no evidence of a difference according
to either the NRTI or anchor regimen randomisation.
The findings therefore highlighted the need to develop a child-friendly fixed-dose combination
of tenofovir alafenamide fumarate.
One study found that adherence counseling reversed viral rebound on dolutegravir in 95% of cases, meaning people did not need to switch treatment.
Two studies found that switching away from integrase inhibitors did not reverse weight gain, and instead, people who switched continued to gain weight at a similar rate to those who didn’t.
One study looked at weight changes following a switch to a protease inhibitor-based regimen, the other following a switch to doravirine/islatravir.
Researchers noted that in the future, managing weight gain could be very important for
preventing metabolic disorders in people with HIV. This may include pharmaceutical
interventions, but these are expensive, and studies looking at their efficiency.
At ICASSA 2023, three Zimbabweans were actually rewarded for putting together research abstracts on scientific ways that can turn around HIV prevention and
treatment measures.
