Zimbabwe has become the first country in Africa and the third in the world to approve an HIV prevention drug recently recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The long-acting injectable drug for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) consists of two initial injections of Cabotegraviror (CAB-LA), administered four weeks apart and followed by an injection every eight weeks. Large-scale studies of the drug showed a 79% reduction in HIV risk compared with oral PrEP."

HIV prevention efforts have stalled, with 1.5 million new HIV infections in 2021 – the same as in 2020. There were 4 000 new infections every day in 2021, with key populations (sex workers, men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, people in prisons, and transgender people) and their sexual partners accounting for 70% of HIV infections globally," WHO said in June this year.

While African countries have dramatically reduced the number of new HIV infections, adolescent girls and young women remain at risk accounting for 63% of new infections last year.

Nyasha Sithole of the Development Agenda for Girls and Women in Africa (DAWA) network said the approval of the drug by Zimbabwe is crucial in preventing the spread of the disease in the country, The Guardian reports.

"Accelerating HIV prevention for girls and young women requires an expansion of choices available. I am excited and proud to know that my own country has approved the use of CAB-LA. This will contribute to our basket of HIV prevention tools that work for us as girls and women in Zimbabwe," Sithole stated.

Earlier this year, Zimbabwe approved a long-acting HIV-preventative vaginal ring. The country's fight against the infection has seen AIDS-related deaths fall from an estimated 130,000 in 2002 to 20,000 in 2021.