‘Global responsibility is in front of us’ to implement guidelines, urges multi-disciplinary panel

International HIV Treatment as Prevention Workshop opens with call for immediate scale-up of access to treatment

This past April, hundreds of leading international HIV experts gathered in Vancouver for the 3rd International HIV Treatment as Prevention Workshop.

The workshop began with an opening roundtable comprising high-level delegates from around the globe to discuss the theme “What will it take to end AIDS?” Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, and Eric Goosby, United States Global AIDS Coordinator, led the discussion and were joined by a panel that included St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Denzil Douglas; health ministers from Argentina, Malawi and Myanmar; and, Dr. Julio Montaner, Director of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE).

Douglas spoke of the potential impact of Treatment as Prevention™, which involves widespread HIV testing and treatment to medically eligible people who are found to be HIV positive.

“Using Treatment as Prevention™, in combination with other interventions, the Caribbean countries can end AIDS and HIV”, he said.

An estimated 6.8 million people worldwide are eligible for treatment but unable to access it. Mr. Sidibé called for the urgent scale up of access to treatment.

“If we have the evidence that antiretroviral therapy canhelp someone living with HIV to stay alive and protect their sexual partners from infection by up to 96%, then we have a moral obligation to make it available,” said Sidibé. “Providing HIV treatment as soon as possible is ethically and morally correct, economically and programmatically feasible and consistent with what we have learnt about clinical best practice over the last decade.”

It was a viewpoint shared by the others on the panel. Goosby argued an AIDS-free generation is in sight if the political will is present to share the responsibility.

“The global responsibility is in front of us,” he said.

Throughout the workshop, researchers and policy makers shared data, protocols and findings, and participated in discussions to identify how best to move forward on implementing Treatment as Prevention™. The World Health Organization presented international guidelines, which provide clinical, operational and programmatic guidance for scaling up HIV programs in low- and middle-income countries following a public health approach.

As in the opening roundtable session, many of the discussions focused on the need for political will to implement these guidelines.