Over 40 million condoms distributed in 2014 - Health minister

The National Committee for the Fight against AIDS held a statutory meeting on Wednesday in Yaounde to assess the rate of reduction of the spread of the HIV virus in the country.

"Indications suggest that the prevalence rate could now be 4% against 4.3% in 2011. The country in 2016 will implement a new demographic survey on health that will exactly explain the new prevalence rate and how this rate is distributed among the different age groups," says André Mama Fouda, Minister of Health (MOH) and Chairman of the fight against AIDS National Committee (CNLS).

Members of the committee assessed the actions taken in 2014 and the 2015 action plan on the fight against HIV / AIDS. "For 2014, prevention had evolved. We had a visible action plan that is more the distribution of more than 40 million condoms in the country. One can admit that it is a significant figure," said the minister. But in fact, this represents 300,000 condoms used in a relatively short time, that is to say 100 000 per day depending on the source. "But when you know the active population, it is not enough. We should continue to promote condom use," admitted Andre Mama Fouda.

Another positive thing according to the MOH is that more than 500 000 people were screened and 145 000 people are on treatment, although the NAC is over.

"You should know that the population has 600,000 people with HIV. So we are still far from our goal of 90% of people to know their HIV status and be under treatment. We will continue to work," said the president of CNLS.

Although the reduction of the infection rate is noticeable, the NAC for its action plan in 2015, continue to put more people infected at 200 000. "We are also targeting strong actions towards adolescents. That's why we appreciate the program All in! of some UN agencies which will target the age group 10 to 19 years, as this segment is very exposed at 72%," says André Mama Fouda.

Regarding the availability of antivirals, the MOH reassured that they are available, but there arises a problem of decentralization concerning the dispensing of these drugs.

The NAC has noted that 10 to 15% of HIV-positive patients do not come spontaneously to collect drugs in approved centers. An assessment on this is also ongoing.