WINDHOEK, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's former Health Minister, Richard Kamwi says that expanding the reach of HIV prevention in sub-Saharan Africa is necessary towards global efforts to end the epidemic.
In a statement from the British High Commission and Wilton Park on Tuesday, Kamwi echoed the sentiments to regional experts who were in Namibia from March 8-10 to discuss sub-Saharan Africa HIV prevention response.
Participants at the event managed to identify opportunities to deliver prevention to key populations, to overcome existing barriers and to ensure prevention can be prioritized while treatment for HIV continues to be scaled-up, according to the statement.
Namibia's First Lady, Monica Geingos, UNAIDS Special Advocate for Young Women and Adolescent Girls, who was also present, spoke about the need to find the places and language to engage with those at risk of HIV, the BE FREE campaign in Namibia, and the success of developing smart partnerships for greater impact.
Executive Director of the African Sex Workers Alliance, Daughtie Ogutu, said the meeting provided a much-needed regional forum to learn and share how health systems are using new approaches to successfully bring HIV prevention to those who suffer the highest.
"We will never end HIV without dramatically escalating efforts to preventing HIV among key populations," he added.
Currently sub-Saharan Africa is home to nearly 70 percent of all people living with HIV and remains the region most affected by HIV globally.
