LUSAKA, December 13, 2023

The Government of the Republic of Zambia today issued a final report on the findings from the 2021 Zambia Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (ZAMPHIA) survey which confirms Zambia has made substantial progress towards controlling its HIV epidemic. The report released by Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStats), shows that Zambia has exceeded the second and third target of The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) “95-95-95” targets, which call for 95 percent of all people living with HIV to be aware of their status, 95 percent of those aware of their status to be on antiretroviral therapy (ART), and 95 percent of those on ART to achieve viral load suppression. Zambia has exceeded the targets for HIV treatment and viral load suppression and is on the verge of surpassing the first 95 target on awareness of status.

Among adults (15 years and older) in Zambia living with HIV, 88.7 percent were aware of their status, 98.0 percent of those who knew their status were on ART, and 96.3 percent of those on ART achieved viral load suppression. ZAMPHIA 2021 also showed that HIV prevalence among adults (15 years and older) is 11 percent, eight percent among men, and 14 percent among women. This shows significant progress when compared with the 2016 ZAMPHIA results of 71-87-89.

ZAMPHIA 2021 also showed important declines in annual HIV incidence from 0.61% in 2016 to 0.31 in 2021 corresponding to approximately 28,000 new HIV infections in 2021 compared to 43,000 in 2016.

ZAMPHIA 2021 is a nationally representative household-based survey that was conducted between April and December of 2021 to provide information on national and province level progress towards key HIV targets and measure the status of Zambia’s HIV response. It was implemented under the leadership of the Government of the Republic of Zambia through the Ministry of Health and the Zambia Statistics Agency.  The United States government provided financial support as well as technical assistance from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the University of Maryland-Baltimore in collaboration with other government and non-government organizations through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

The ZAMPHIA 2021 results demonstrates the impact of the country’s national HIV response in addressing the epidemic and shows the tremendous progress achieved over the last five years, resulting in more adults living with HIV being aware of their status, accessing HIV treatment, and living longer, healthier lives.

Professor Lloyd Mulenga, Director of Infectious Diseases at the Zambia Ministry of Health and the Principal Investigator for the survey said, “We have made tremendous progress towards ending HIV as a public health threat! Yet we face daunting challenges in making this a reality among all age groups especially the young people.”

Man Charurat, PhD, Global Director of Ciheb at the University of Maryland-Baltimore’s School of Medicine said, “We congratulate the government and people of Zambia on these remarkable results,”.  “This achievement shows the importance of its national program, partnerships, and communities.”

UTH Virology Laboratory, ZamPHIA Central Lab PI, Dr Mwaka Monze “I salute the network of laboratories and facilities that are daily performing HIV diagnostics in support of the national response, labs that are contributing continuously to the documentation of progress being made. ZamPHIA 2021 was a challenging survey in many ways, but it has shown that our efforts to provide a high-quality service to the people of Zambia is bearing fruit. We are even more determined now to hit that mark.”

This type of Population level survey is key to helping governments determine the status of prevailing diseases of public health interest in their countries and to inform programming.  The ZAMPHIA 2021 survey results has shown that Zambia is on track to end AIDS by 2030 once they surpass all the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets