193 countries committed to deliver on the promises enshrined in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), one of which is to end AIDS by 2030. Target to end AIDS by 2030 is also enlisted in India’s National Health Policy (NHP 2017). “Only 133 months are left to meet these targets. To end AIDS, we need to make U=U (undetectable equals untransmittable) a reality in the life of every person living with HIV” said Dr Ishwar Gilada, President of ASICON 2019, and President of AIDS Society of India (ASI), who is also on the Governing Council of the International AIDS Society (IAS). If a person living with HIV is on life-saving antiretroviral therapy (ART) and virally suppressed, then risk of transmission is negligible.
“This means that 100% of the people living with HIV must know their status, 100% of them should be on life-saving antiretroviral therapy (ART), and 100% of them should be virally suppressed. We need to make U=U a reality for every person living with HIV, and achieve zero new transmission of HIV if we are to deliver on the promise of ending AIDS in the next 11 years. ASICON 2019 will also deliberate on medical aspects of ending AIDS” added Dr Gilada, who established India’s first HIV clinic over 3 decades ago. He was speaking to CNS (Citizen News Service, www.citizen-news.org).