HIV/AIDS in Sierra Leone: Characterizing the Hidden Epidemic

Sierra Leone is a low-income West African country that has dealt with waves of economic, political, and public health challenges in its recent past, including a decade-long brutal civil war and the Ebola epidemic of 2014-2016. The HIV/AIDS epidemic, which has raged on in the country since 1987, has long been characterized as stable. The latest UNAIDS report estimates a countrywide HIV prevalence rate of 1.7% in 2016 among adults aged 15-49 years. However, there are indications that the epidemic may be in fact escalating and unless arrested urgently, has the potential to deteriorate into a major public health emergency. Although there are high levels of HIV awareness among adults (over 94%), uptake in voluntary HIV testing has remained low (<30%), and under one-third (29%) of the country's 60,000 people living with HIV/AIDS were on antiretroviral therapy in 2015. This review attempts to address the paucity of scientific information on the subject by presenting the historical and epidemiological background to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Sierra Leone. Other aspects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Sierra Leone are examined, including routine HIV screening and diagnosis, linkage to and retention in HIV care, clinical characteristics and molecular epidemiology, treatment coverage, and prevention strategies. Finally, we identify four key areas of challenge that are hampering current efforts attempting to bring the epidemic under control, and perspective is offered on the way forward.