By Haruna Gimba
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said it is saddened by the death of the Prime Minister of Eswatini, Ambrose Dlamini, who died after testing positive for the COVID-19.
The UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima said the HIV response has lost a champion, describing late Dlamini as a friend of UNAIDS who helped to steer his country to great successes in the HIV response.
In a statement, the UNAIDS said the deceased’s will be miss for his contribution to the fight against HIV.
“Mr Dlamini took an active role in the response to HIV in Eswatini, and the National AIDS Council and the Country Coordinating Mechanism in Eswatini of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria reported directly to him,” the statement read.
It added that Mr Dlamini was present for the launch of Seizing the moment, a UNAIDS report on the global AIDS epidemic, in July 2020, “at which he spoke about Eswatini’s success in surpassing the 90–90–90 targets, whereby 90 percent of people living with HIV know their HIV status, 90% of people who know their HIV-positive status are accessing treatment and 90% of people on treatment have suppressed viral loads.
“We have achieved 95–95–95. And we cannot rest on our successes, nor be discouraged by setbacks. We must ensure that no one is left behind. We must close the gaps. We are aiming for 100–100–100,” late Dlamini was quoted as saying during the launch.
