Inside Namibia's HIV Success Story

Facing one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world, Namibia has become the first country in Africa to have more than three-quarters of its HIV-affected population virally suppressed — and insiders are crediting political commitment, good data, and community-centered HIV programs for the remarkable achievement.

"DAPP has had such great success in Namibia with this ... so we are now moving all of our implementing partners to the DAPP model," Baughman said.

Index partner testing has proved more effective at finding hard-to-reach undiagnosed people in part, because it is more targeted, but also because it is implemented by staff who are embedded in the local community and are able to build relationships, Hansen explained. This is linked to DAPP's personalized and community-based approach to HIV programming, known as total control of the epidemic, which is designed to systematically reach each person in a community.

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