The Executive Director of UNAIDS Michel Sidibé has congratulated Chad for its progress in responding to HIV and urged the country to adopt the UNAIDS Fast-Track approach to end the AIDS epidemic in Chad by 2030.

Mr Sidibé was on country visit to Chad from 2 to 4 August 2015 where he met with many senior officials including the Prime Minister, the Minister of Health, the Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, the First Lady and civil society to discuss national achievements and global HIV treatment targets set for 2020.

The percentage of people accessing lifesaving antiretroviral treatment in Chad remains low at 30% and more needs to be done to scale up access. Mr Sidibé spoke about the importance of increasing HIV testing as a first step towards giving people living with HIV a chance to access treatment for their own health and to prevent new HIV infections. Globally, it is estimated that only 54% of the 36.9 million people living with HIV know that they are living with the virus.

He also called for universal access to health care and to address the stigma and discrimination marginalized populations, people living with HIV and their families face.

There are an estimated 210 000 people living with HIV in Chad and HIV prevalence has remained stable at 2.5% since 2013. UNAIDS estimates that last year there were 12 000 AIDS-related deaths and 14 000 new HIV infections in the country.

During a courtesy call to First Lady Hinda Deby Itno, Mr Sidibé congratulated her for the work she did as the President of the Organisation of First Ladies against HIV/AIDS.