Staff Reporter
THE Ministry of Health and Social Services has taken a bold step in the fight against HIV by fast-tracking the registration of lenacapavir, a twice-yearly HIV prevention breakthrough, underscoring Namibia’s commitment to innovation and health equity.
The Health Ministry emphasised that South Africa and Zambia have already registered this long-acting PrEP option, placing Namibia among the first African countries to approve this next-generation prevention technology. The ministry confirmed that thousands of Namibians are already on PrEP, which requires daily tablet intake. By contrast, lenacapavir is administered as a long-acting injectable formulation requiring only two doses per year.
“Namibia has achieved the 95/95/95 UNAIDS targets (95% of all people living with HIV know their status, 95% of those diagnosed are on antiretroviral treatment, and 95% of those on treatment have achieved viral suppression), however, Namibia continues to experience ongoing new HIV infections,” the ministry added.
This milestone reinforces Namibia’s leadership in the HIV response, as long-acting PrEP offers a major scientific advance for the thousands who currently depend on daily oral medication.
“But innovation without equity is not enough. We recognise that the current global list price, reported at more than USD 28,000 per person per year, places this life-saving technology well beyond the reach of most Africans. This price does not reflect the reality of the average African or Namibian. Access to cutting-edge health technologies must not be a privilege for the few; it must be available to all, regardless of where you come from or how much money you have in your bank account,” said Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr Esperance Luvindao.
UNAIDS reports that around 4,000 adolescent girls and young women acquired HIV every week in 2024, the majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa. This translates to hundreds of new infections every single day among young women. If this trend continues, by this time next week approximately 4,000 young women and girls will have contracted HIV globally.
Luvindao added that these are not just numbers, but lives, futures, and families.
“With thousands of Namibians already using PrEP, and millions of people across Africa on PrEP, the urgency to accelerate access to more effective and longer-acting prevention options has never been greater. The Ministry is therefore actively advocating for affordable and accessible pricing. The Minister of Health and Social Services has initiated discussions with the Director General of the African Medicines Agency, pushing for timely and meaningful price reductions so that lenacapavir can be integrated into public sector programmes without crippling national HIV responses due to unaffordable costs,” Luvindao said.
