Progress of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries Towards Achieving the 95-95-95 UNAIDS Targets: A Review

BackgroundIn 2014, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and partners launched the 90-90-90 targets. These were further updated to correspond to 95-95-95 by the year 2025. We present an overview of the progress made by Gulf Cooperated Council (GCC) countries towards meeting the glo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health 2023-04, Vol.13 (3), p.397-10
Main Authors: Salah Al Awaidy, Ramy Mohamed Ghazy, Mahomed, Ozayr
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome
AIDS
Antiretroviral drugs
Antiretroviral therapy
Case reports
Cooperation
GCC countries
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus
Review
UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets
Viral suppression
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Summary:BackgroundIn 2014, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and partners launched the 90-90-90 targets. These were further updated to correspond to 95-95-95 by the year 2025. We present an overview of the progress made by Gulf Cooperated Council (GCC) countries towards meeting the global targets.MethodsWe extracted data from Global AIDS Monitoring (GAM), UNAIDS AIDS Info, HIV case reporting database, and the WHO global policy uptake for six countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab of Emirates (UAE) to assess the HIV/AIDS burden in the six GCC countries, and the progress towards achieving the 95-95-95 goal.ResultsBy the end of 2021, an estimated 42,015 people living with HIV (PLHIV) were residing in the GCC countries with prevalence levels below 0.01%. Data from four GCC countries, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and UAE, indicated that by 2021, 94%, 80%, 66%, and 85% of HIV-positive population knew their status, respectively. 68%, 93% (2020 data), 65%, 58% and 85% of PLHIV in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and UAE who knew their status were on anti-retroviral therapy (ART), respectively, and 55%, 92%, 58% and 90% (2020 data) among those who were on ART had viral suppression in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and KSA, respectively.ConclusionThe GCC countries have made great strides toward fulfilling the 95-95-95 targets, but the interim 2025 overall UNAIDS targets remain unmet. The GCC countries must strive diligently to accomplish the targets by emphasising early identification of the cases by enhanced screening and testing, as well as prompt commencement of ART therapy with viral load suppression.
ISSN:2210-6006
2210-6014
DOI:10.1007/s44197-023-00097-1