JOHANNESBURG — South Africa, Eswatini and Zambia were to begin on Monday administering a groundbreaking new HIV-prevention injection in the drug’s first public rollouts in Africa, which has the world’s highest HIV burden.

Lenacapavir, taken twice a year, has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV transmission by more than 99.9 percent, making it functionally akin to a powerful vaccine.

In South Africa, where one in five adults lives with HIV, a Wits University research unit oversaw the rollout as part of an initiative funded by Unitaid, the United Nations health agency.

“The first individuals have begun using lenacapavir for HIV prevention in South Africa … making it among the first real-world use of the 6-monthly injectable in low-and middle-income countries,” Unitaid said in a statement

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