24 February 2022, BEIRUT – A cooperation agreement was concluded between the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the World Health Organization (WHO) at a ceremony held on the 18th of February 2022 in Lebanon. The agreement established a framework for the two organizations to work together towards continuing their support to the National AIDS Control Program (NAP) in leading the national response to HIV/AIDS prevention and control in Lebanon. This support is made possible through the regional Middle East Response grant (MER) from the Global Fund to IOM.
Through this grant, the NAP will be able to expand its reach and services through 13 thematic local NGOs for voluntary counselling and testing and provide non-interrupted medications and consumables supplies for diagnosis and treatment till end of December 2024.
The National AIDS Control Program was established in 1989 as a joint program of the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) and WHO after the steady increase in the number of people living with HIV in Lebanon following the first reported case in 1984. NAP reported a cumulative of 2,366 people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Lebanon by the end of 2018[1].
NAP currently provides anti-retroviral therapy, treatment, care, and support to nearly 2,000 people living with HIV; along with voluntary counselling and testing to nearly 18,000 individuals through thematic NGOs. NAP also offers treatment monitoring including viral load testing to achieve the 95-95-95 global targets[2]; and it established an HIV PCR unit, as part of the joint testing platform with TB, to add to its services in Karantina.
“This program did not stop operating and delivering medications to people living with HIV/AIDS despite the challenging situation of the pandemic and Beirut Blast which directly affected their building. I believe in health for all, and no one should be left behind,” said Dr. Iman Shankiti, WHO representative in Lebanon.
“Lebanon is a model for the provision of differentiated prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care services to people living with HIV with support from the regional Middle East Response (MER) grant funded by The Global Fund and implemented by the National AIDS Program in partnership with IOM and WHO”, added Dr. Nevin WILSON, IOM’s Senior Regional Project Coordinator for the Middle East Response.
Despite the limited financial and
human resources, NAP has been responding effectively and efficiently,
prioritising vulnerable population irrespective of nationality and status with
a range of differentiated diagnostic, prevention and treatment services
including raising awareness amongst those who are most at risk.
[1] Ministry of Public Health in Lebanon- National Aids Control Program. Epidemiology World AIDS day 2017. (2017). Available at, https://www.moph.gov.lb/en/Pages/2/4000/aids.
[2] The updated UNAIDS targets for 2025 aim for 95% of those living with HIV to know their status, 95% of those who know their status to be on treatment and 95% of those on treatment to be virally suppressed.