Increased testing and combination prevention efforts mean the UK joins a select list of other countries in achieving the 90-90-90 targets 2 years before the 2020 goal. Tony Kirby reports.
Public Health England (PHE) has announced that, in 2017, the nation achieved the UNAIDS targets of 90% of all people with HIV diagnosed, 90% of those diagnosed on antiretroviral treatment, and 90% of those on treatment virally suppressed. In the UK, 92% of people with HIV are diagnosed, 98% of those diagnosed receive antiretroviral treatment, and 97% of those on treatment are virally suppressed, meaning that 87% of all people with HIV in the country are virally supressed (the UNAIDS target for which is 73%). The UK joins a select list of countries to achieve this target before the 2020 deadline; Botswana, Cambodia, Denmark, Eswatini, Namibia, and the Netherlands have also attained 90-90-90.
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Julio Montaner, director of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS in Vancouver, Canada, was the architect of the 90-90-90 target, which was an extension of the treatment-as-prevention paradigm he pioneered more than a decade ago. He is not optimistic that the world will reach the UNAIDS goal. “At the present rate, I have serious doubts we will meet the global 90-90-90 target by 2020 and, as such, we will miss an opportunity to truly deliver on the promise of all the scientific advancements in HIV we have collectively achieved over the last three decades”, says Montaner.
At the time of going to press, the G20 world’s wealthiest nations were meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Montaner says that. In light of overall global funding for HIV stalling in recent years, or even falling, “it is critical for the G20 to redouble their financial commitments to HIV/AIDS, but I have limited hope this is actually going to happen.”