SEVEN first ladies from Africa have confirmed their participation at the International Conference on AIDS and STI’s in Africa (ICASA) which begins this Sunday in Harare.
The Conference runs up to December 4.
The First Lady, Amai Dr Grace Mugabe, will host the First Ladies set to grace Zimbabwe.
In an interview, ICASA communications manager Tariro Chikumbirike said the number was not static as communications were not being done through ICASA directly.
“As of last week, seven had confirmed their participation,” said Chikumbirike.
“So for now that is the number that we are working with, although there might be some changes.”
Chikumbirike said almost everything was complete including the renovations at the Harare International Conference Centre which will be hosting an estimated 6 000 delegates from Africa.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is also expected to reveal the new HIV treatment and STIs guidelines during the conference.
The HIV guideline makes two key recommendations that were developed during the revision process in 2015.
First, anti-retroviral therapy (ART) should be initiated in everyone living with HIV at any CD4 cell count.
Second, the use of daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is recommended as a prevention choice for people at substantial risk of HIV infection as part of combination prevention approaches.
The first of these recommendations is based on evidence from clinical trials and observational studies released since 2013 showing that earlier use of ART results in better clinical outcomes for people living with HIV compared with delayed treatment.
The second recommendation is based on clinical trial results, confirming the efficacy of the ARV drug tenofovir for use as PrEP to prevent people from acquiring HIV in a wide variety of settings and populations.
The recommendations in this guideline will form part of the revised consolidated guidelines on the use of ARV drugs for treating and preventing HIV infection to be published by WHO in 2016.
The full update of the guidelines will consist of comprehensive clinical recommendations together with revised operational and service delivery guidance to support implementation.
Other major highlights for the conference include the official opening of the Community Village on November 30 by renowned footballer Samuel Eto’o, a former FC Barcelona player now with Antalyaspo in Turkey.
Originally from Cameroon, Eto’o will highlight the strides that have been made so far towards HIV treatment and the presentation of the only person (Timothy Brown) cured of HIV in what has become known as the ‘Berlin Patient’.
ICASA will run under the theme: ‘AIDS in Post 2015: Linking Leadership, Science and Human Rights’.
The aim of the ICASA Conference is to promote multi-disciplinary dialogue and health debate on AIDS response in Africa.
The event will also bring together scientists, policy makers, activists, people living with HIV and AIDS and civil society groups.
Participants will also review the HIV and AIDS response mechanisms adopted by countries as well as come up with ways of strengthening the partnership among governments and co-operating partners.
According to AVERT, sub-Saharan Africa has the most serious HIV and AIDS epidemic in the world.
In 2013, an estimated 24,7 million people were living with HIV, accounting for 71 percent of the global total.
In the same year, there were an estimated 1,5 million new HIV infections and 1,1 million AIDS-related deaths.
HIV prevalence for the region is 4,7 percent, but varies greatly between regions within sub-Saharan Africa as well as individual countries.
Swaziland has the highest HIV prevalence of any country worldwide (27,4 percent), while South Africa has the largest epidemic of any country as 5,9 million people are living with HIV.
By comparison, HIV prevalence in Western and Eastern Africa is low to moderate, ranging from 0,5 percent in Senegal to six percent in Kenya.
While many countries have large, generalised epidemics, research has shown how groups such as young women and men who have sex with men are particularly at risk of HIV.
Apparently, Zimbabwe has the fifth highest HIV prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa at 15 percent.
The hosting of ICASA will surely go a long way in coming up with measures to combat HIV and AIDS not only in Zimbabwe, but in Africa, in order to achieve the goal of an HIV-free generation.