The Chief Executive Officer of the National AIDS Commission (NAC) Dr. Beatrice Matanje has called for a continued multi-sectoral response to sustain the gains against HIV and AIDS in Malawi. She was speaking on 26th. June 2025 at Crossroads Hotel during a national dialogue organized by a consortium of Civil Society organisations working in the health sector. The theme of the meeting was “sustaining the gains: advancing community led solutions amidst declining donor support”. She observed that the current global funding landscape demands that various sectors in the country continue putting their heads together to mitigate the increasing need for domestic resource mobilization.
Outlining the gains so far made; Dr. Matanje noted that the country reached the 95:95:95 universal targets against HIV and AIDS in 2024 long before the set 2025 deadline. Again she said HIV prevalence among adults 15+ years was at 7% by 2024 down from 14% in the 1990’s. New annual HIV infections has dropped by 90%, from a peak of 115,000 in 1990 to just 12,000 in 2024. AIDS-related deaths have also declined sharply from a peak of 80,000 in 2003 to 14,000 annually in 2024. Around 92% of all HIV positive adults aged 15 years and above are on ART. She attributed these gains to the funding support provided to Malawi over the years by international partners like the Global Fund and PEPFAR. However; these key partners now expect the country to increase its domestic resource mobilization for sustainability.
On sustainability; Matanje said long before the changed funding landscape, Malawi started developing a sustainability roadmap. This process was working on the assumption that funding partners would be reducing their support in a phased manner to allow for the country to strengthen its domestic resource mobilization efforts. But as it is the sustainability roadmap has to be redrawn to reflect the new global funding landscape.
It is on demands of the sustainability roadmap that the NAC CEO is calling upon a renewed collaboration among various national players. These include different categories of the public sector beyond health. Again; it is expected that the private sector will now re-engage to demonstrate its contribution towards sustainability of HIV and AIDS in particular and health funding in general in Malawi. Dr. Matanje retorted that gone is the time when HIV was viewed as a standalone issue for the Ministry of health. Today HIV is among broader health issues that need an integrated approach and participation of all sectors interested in human capital for national growth.
