HIV/AIDS: nearly 1,000 new infections recorded each year in Senegal (Cnls)

Senegal records around 1,000 new HIV/AIDS infections per year, revealed the executive secretary of the National Council to Fight AIDS (Cnls), Dr Safietou Thiam, highlighting a worrying recovery in the contamination curve since 2021.

“For the moment, we have around 1,000 new infections per year,” she declared during an intervention on the set of Senegalese Radio and Television (Rts).

According to her, the curve of new infections, which had been in continuous decline since 2005, “has been rising since 2021”. “We alerted, but it comes back. At the moment, we have a rate of 1,000 new infections per year,” she insisted.

The head of the Cnls, however, put these figures into perspective, believing that Senegal remains in a controllable situation compared to other countries. “Compared to other countries, we know that it is low, because it is controllable. But the alert is that the curve changes projection,” she explained.

Dr Thiam specified that adults aged 18 to 45 constitute the age group most affected by these new infections. “This is the sexually active age group. This is certainly the age group that grew up without the scary images about AIDS,” she analyzed.

Faced with this situation, she called for a readjustment of communication strategies aimed at young adults. “We must readjust our communication towards these young people to better equip them,” she pleaded.

A public health doctor, Dr Safietou Thiam has more than 30 years of experience in the field of HIV/AIDS and coordinates national strategies to combat the disease within the Cnls.

Salla GUEYE