Redouble efforts to close HIV prevention gap - UNAIDS

Redouble efforts to close HIV prevention gap – UNAIDS

Nov 29, 2016 News

Strategic global partnerships have already put the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) within sight.
This essentially means that the world is nearly on track to reach the targets to reduce mother-to-child transmission. However, the current rate of scale-up of paediatric treatment appears insufficient. As such closing the gap will require tremendous additional effort to diagnose infants living with HIV and enroll them in treatment as soon as possible.
This has been amplified in the 2016 UNAIDS World AIDS Day Report which highlights that “redoubled efforts to close the prevention gap can be built on a foundation of unparalleled global advocacy and financial commitment.”
The gains made and the challenges linked to combating HIV will be especially highlighted when World AIDS is commemorated on Thursday. World AIDS is commemorated annually on December 1 worldwide.
According to the report, 10 years ago the acceleration of the AIDS response was largely dependent on bilateral and multilateral donors.
However, at the United Nations General Assembly in 2011, UNAIDS called for shared responsibility, broader ownership and wider accountability to meet the investment needs of the response in a sustainable manner. Low- and middle-income countries have answered this challenge, the report underscored.
In fact it was revealed that in the past five years, domestic investment in the AIDS responses of these countries has increased by 46 per cent, reaching US$10.8 billion in 2015. Total annual investment in these countries reached US$19 billion, including the contributions of United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and other bilateral and multilateral donors.
But a sizable investment gap remains. Moreover, reaching the Fast-Track Targets agreed by the United Nations General Assembly will require an additional US$7 billion annually by 2020, the report has highlighted.
The report has pointed out that reaching and sustaining this level of investment until 2030, and focusing these resources on delivering the most effective HIV services to the people in greatest need across the life cycle, will result in millions of additional lives saved and tens of millions of additional HIV infections averted.
It has been outlined in the report too that 21 countries in Africa have worked with UNAIDS and PEPFAR to reduce new infections among children aged 0 -14 years by 51 percent since 2010. Further efforts focused on children, adolescent girls and young women are being guided by a new framework: Start Free, Stay Free, AIDS Free.
In June 2011 UNAIDS and the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) launched the Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive (Global Plan) along with 21 countries that at the time accounted for 90 percent of the global number of pregnant women living with HIV.
The Global Plan galvanized global and national political will and action. The result was global coverage of services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV increasing dramatically, from 50 percent (44-56 percent) in 2010 to 77 percent (69-86 percent) in 2015. As a result, the number of new HIV infections among children aged 0 – 14 years has declined by 51 percent since 2010.
In addition, the number of children aged 0 – 14 years on antiretroviral therapy, globally, has doubled over the past five years, from nearly 452 000 children in 2010 to 910 000 (801 000 –947 000) children by mid-2016, pushing down the number of AIDS-related deaths among children by 44 per cent.
Governments and civil society, according to the report, are also working with the United Nations system within the High-Level Task Force on Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV in Eastern and Southern Africa to raise greater awareness of the disproportionate HIV risks faced by adolescent girls and young women.
Added to this, it has been amplified that the 90–90–90 targets, launched by UNAIDS at the 2014 International AIDS Conference, has rallied global efforts on HIV testing and treatment, and improved focus on the viral suppression required to realize the full preventative effect of treatment.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News