Country Progress Report - Samoa: Global AIDS Monitoring 2018

At the 2011 United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AIDS that took place in June in New York, Member States adopted a new Political Declaration which contained new targets to effectively respond to the AIDS epidemic. The 2011 Political Declaration mandates UNAIDS to support countries in reporting back on progress made towards achieving the new commitments. It also provides for the UN Secretary-General to report regularly to the General Assembly on progress achieved in realizing these commitments.

The first case of HIV recorded in Samoa was in 1990. Since then, 24 cumulative cases have been reported. Currently, there are 11 living cases of HIV. Though this is a low prevalence, low testing rates (4-5%) indicate that there are many more cases likely undetected. The high prevalence of other STI’s (Chlamydia at 20.7% in 2017), is also a concern and pose risks for increasing HIV transmission.