MAPUTO, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Mozambican health authorities said on Monday that HIV/AIDS killed 53,886 people in 2018 across the country.

Idalina Libombo, Deputy Executive Secretary of the National AIDS Council, made the announcement at a press conference in Maputo, which launched the activities of World AIDS Day, which is one week away.

"This number shows that we have not yet been able to actually keep people on treatment for various reasons on the part of the sick," said Libombo.

The deputy secretary admitted that the information tracking means to monitor HIV patients was still deficient in the national health system.

"Our biggest problem is discontinuation: we still can't keep people on continuous treatment," she said. "But we are working with communities to help us with vigilance on people who abandon treatment."

In 2018, the Ministry of Health identified two million HIV carriers, and only one million of them were being treated, she said.