Advancing 95-95-95 in Africa through the delivery of sustained evidence informed strategies

Worldwide, an estimated 40.8 million people are living with HIV, with the Africa Region disproportionately affected—over 26.3 million individuals, or approximately 64% of the global total, reside there. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to experience the highest impact, especially among young women.We are still facing a challenge in achieving the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets for 2030 that aims for 95% of people living with HIV to know their HIV status, 95% of people who know their HIV-positive status to be on antiretroviral treatment, and 95% of people on treatment to achieve suppressed viral loads. In fact, only 7 countries have thus far achieved this goal. Globally, only 87% of PLWH are aware of their clinical status, with 5.4 million (14%) unaware of their status, untreated with detectable virus load, and, therefore, source of transmission worldwide. Moreover, among PLWH who knew their status, only 89% of them could access treatment. These data indicate the existence of a significant gap between awareness of the clinical status and undetectable virus load which is still hampering our ability to curb the epidemic.The International Conference on HIV Treatment, Pathogenesis, and Prevention Research in Resource-Limited Settings, popularly known as INTEREST, was launched in Kampala, Uganda in 2007. INTEREST has grown from its beginnings to become a leading scientific conference of HIV and other infectious diseases in Africa. INTEREST brings together scientists involved in HIV treatment, pathogenesis, and prevention research in Africa to share pivotal findings. It creates an important platform for advancing scientific and implementation science research to promote collaboration, and transfer experiences across several fields and countries.Achieving the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets by 2030 and deploying emerging prevention, care and treatment strategies globally will depend on the training and continuous education of healthcare providers and scientists, creation of awareness and opportunities to share evidence informed strategies across the region. The specific objectives are to provide cutting-edge scientific knowledge in the fields of diagnosis and treatment, pathogenesis, and prevention of HIV as well as to build opportunities for young investigators to share research findings.In this Research Topic, we are interested in exploring advances in basic sciences and HIV, HIV prevention and new technologies, pediatrics and vertical transmission through original research, implementation science research and other related research studies particularly in the Africa region. We welcome manuscript submissions from all international researchers as well as presenters of oral, miniorals and posters accepted during INTEREST 2026 in (1) Basic Sciences and HIV cure or (2) HIV Prevention and New Technologies (PrEP, vaccines, antibodies) or (3) Pediatrics and vertical transmission. Topic editors: Kwasi Torpey, Nyaradzo Mavis Mgodi, Guido Ferrari, Joseph Baluku Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/80129/advancing-95-95-95-in-africa-through-the-delivery-of-sustained-evidence-informed-strategies