As the world marks this year's 2023 World AIDS Day on December, 1, the Plateau State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Cletus Shurkuk has disclosed that the State is one of the States that have attained HIV treatment saturation status and currently, 49,539 people are on treatment for HIV and 95% of the clients were virally suppressed. 

The Commissioner spoke during a press conference to highlight the activities lined up to celebrate the Day with the theme: Let Communities Lead, stressing that the Day is an opportunity to reflect on the journey so far, acknowledge and celebrate the progress made and recognize the challenges to be tackled. 

He noted that "This World AIDS Day is more than a celebration of the achievements of communities, it is a call to action to enable and support communities in their leadership roles to ending AIDS by 2023. National AIDS, STI's Control Programme of the Federal Ministry of Health through the support of Global Fund scaled up Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV, PMTCT in all the States of the federation and 861 sites in Plateau State towards prevention of HIV transmission to all newborn babies... 
"HIV/AIDS remains a major global Public Health issue as an estimated 39 million people will be living with it at the end of 2022, two-thirds of whom are in the African region. 630,000 people died from HIV- related causes and 1.3 million people acquired HIV. There is no cure for HIV infection, however access to effective HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care, HIV has become a manageable chronic health condition, enabling people living with HIV to lead a long and healthy life... 

"Plateau State is one of the States that have attained HIV treatment saturation. The State has 49,539 people currently on treatment and over 95% of the clients were virally suppressed. Despite the giant strides made, there is still met treatment gap between the paediatric sub-population and the PMTCT sub-population. The progress we have made requires the government, the community, CSOs, advocates, activists, faith-based communities, and public and private organizations to come together for the shared goal of saving lives. 

"Winnie Byanyim,  Executive Director UNAIDS said 'The end of AIDS is possible, and it is within our grasp, to follow the path that ends AIDS, the world needs to let communities lead'."