210,000 patients using new HIV drug in Zambia

By James Kunda

LUSAKA, Zambia (AA) – Some 210,000 HIV patients in Zambia are using the Tenofovir Alafenamide (TAF) medicine first rolled out in the country in June 2019, an official said on Friday.

The drug has shown good viral suppression and helped improve life quality of patients, according to Lloyd Mulenga, director for infectious diseases at Zambia’s Health Ministry.

“Pregnant women are also responding well to the treatment,” he said in a statement.

TAF has proven to be effective because it is able to suppress the viral load of patients within 10-14 days, according to Mulenga.

Zambia, a country of over 18 million, has some 1.5 million HIV/AIDS patients in Zambia with 1.1 million of them on anti-retroviral therapy.

The government has set a target of getting 400,000 more patients on anti-retroviral therapy this year, as part of its objective to overcome the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country by 2030.​​​​​​​