Some of the world’s pre-eminent medical professionals, public health experts and scientists have been meeting in Vancouver this week at the 2015 International AIDS Society’s biennial conference. More than 6,000 delegates have been discussing the latest scientific developments in HIV science and how to put them into practice to combat the disease. In the medical and scientific communities, this conference is big news. For the general public, however, it hardly makes a ripple.
Why is this particular conference, which ends Wednesday, so significant? Because the world is facing a historic opportunity to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. We have the knowledge and resources to achieve this. As a global community, the choices we make over the next five years will determine the fates of millions of people.
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Treatment as prevention is at the heart of an ambitious UNAIDS strategy known as “90-90-90”: by 2020, 90 per cent of all people will know their HIV status, 90 per cent of all people diagnosed with HIV will receive treatment and 90 per cent of all people receiving treatment will successfully achieve viral suppression to prevent transmission to others.
The UNAIDS-Lancet report recognizes that we only have a five-year window of opportunity to achieve the 90-90-90 goals – or risk reversing the gains made in reducing new infections and AIDS-related deaths.
The vast majority of people living with HIV are from low- and middle-income countries, but only about a third of them have access to medications. Right now the rollout of HIV treatment is too slow. Given current population growth rates, staying the course is tantamount to going backward. More people will get infected, more will die and the costs of dealing with AIDS will accelerate.
We must seize this opportunity to rapidly scale up HIV treatment programs and address the glaring inequities in access to health care between the global North and South.