Dakar, Senegal – In line with the worldwide goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030, government officials from ECOWAS member states committed to providing comprehensive health services for key populations in West Africa. They finalized a declaration of their commitment at an April 10, 2015, meeting hosted by the Government of Senegal and organized by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in collaboration with the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the West Africa Health Organization.

“Experts recognize that controlling the epidemic in West Africa will require focus on populations that are under-served and at higher risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV, which means key populations as shown by data,” noted USAID/West Africa Mission Director Alex Deprez. “We now know that, in countries (like India) where these key populations have been prioritized, HIV prevalence in both the general and key populations has remained low with significant gains in reducing HIV nationally.”