MBABANE, March 17 (Reuters) - Eswatini joined a handful

of countries to officially roll out new HIV prevention drug

lenacapavir on Wednesday, announcing that 2,000 Swazis had

received the jab since December.

The United States, where the drug was formulated, and seven

other African countries with high HIV prevalence rates have

introduced it so far.

"People have been very receptive," Sindy Matse, programme

manager for the Eswatini National AIDS Programme, told Reuters,

adding that stock was nearly exhausted by the initial uptake.

U.S.-based Gilead Sciences' ( GILD ) drug lenacapavir is a

subcutaneous injection given twice a year. It aims to overcome

problems associated with daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis

pills (PrEP), such as forgetting to take them and failing to

acquire enough pills to keep taking them consistently.

Matse said the programme aimed to have it available in all

206 health facilities that had been offering PrEP.

Eswatini is a small South African kingdom formerly known as

Swaziland.

Around a quarter of Swazis between the ages of 15 and 49

carry the virus, according to the latest data, from 2023, from

the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. But new infections fell by

nearly threequarters between 2010 and 2024, to 4,000 from

14,000, owing to better prevention and treatment, the CDC says.