Africa still threatened by AIDS resurgence, US agency

The new head of the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), Dr John Nkengasong, says HIV and Aids remain a significant threat for Africa.

The virologist from Cameroon has spent the last two years heading Africa’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

He told the BBC that there was a potential for a resurgence of HIV/Aids in many parts of Africa and that it was still an emergency which deserved the attention it received 20 years ago.

He said there was a risk that more recent outbreaks such as Ebola and coronavirus would undermine gains made in the fight against HIV/Aids.

“We have to recognise that with the random occurrence of emerging diseases, Like Ebola and Covid-19, the risk is that they will begin to undermine the gains that we’ve made in advancing the HIV programme. We have to look at a platform that can make the HIV response programme more resilient to potential outbreaks of other diseases.”

With BBC