Tuesday 05 August
2008, San José, Costa Rica
HEALTH:
Stepping Up the Response
to AIDS
By Daniela Estrada
MEXICO CITY (IPS) - It
is necessary to evaluate
the current global
architecture for
responding to the AIDS
epidemic, move forward
with studies on HIV
rates, and implement
effective prevention
strategies, said the
experts meeting at the
17th International AIDS
Conference, which opened
Sunday in Mexico.
The extraordinary
mobilisation of economic
and human resources
against the HIV/AIDS
pandemic has borne
fruit, but efforts must
be stepped up to
continue fighting the
disease, Mexican expert
Jaime Sepúlveda said
Monday, one of the
plenary speakers at the
first session, on the
"State of the Epidemic".
According to the 2008
"Report on the Global
AIDS Epidemic" by the
Joint United Nations
Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS),
an estimated 33 million
people were living with
HIV worldwide in 2007,
and two million died.
Sepúlveda also noted
that last year, three
million people living
with HIV in low and
medium income countries
were receiving
antiretroviral therapy,
just 31 percent of those
in need of treatment,
while 2.7 million new
cases were registered.
Half of those living
with the AIDS virus
worldwide are women, and
sub-Saharan Africa
accounts for more than
60 percent of all cases.
What is the state of the
epidemic? "The numbers
are growing, but slower
than before," Professor
Geoff Garnett, one of
Monday’s speakers, told
IPS.
He added that while
there are many new
cases, the rate of
infection has been
curbed by anti-AIDS
efforts and campaigns.
However, there are major
problems when it comes
to measuring the number
of new infections each
year, which makes it
difficult to gauge just
how effective the
prevention strategies
implemented up to now
have really been, said
Garnett, from the
Imperial College of
London.
Besides, "we haven’t
done enough to evaluate
the social, structural
and biological
variables" involved in
high-risk behaviour, he
said.
More financing for
research on the disease
and for the assessment
of treatment and
prevention is needed,
said Sepúlveda, who is
now with the Bill &
Melinda Gates
Foundation.
"What works? In what
population groups?"
asked Sepúlveda, the
founder of Mexico’s
National Council for
AIDS Prevention and
Control (CONASIDA).
Garnett called for an
expansion of "combined
prevention
interventions,"
including aspects like
access to antiretroviral
treatment, consistent
condom use, male
circumcision and the
integration of HIV/AIDS
education into family
planning.
The expert also called
for reforms in
institutions that fund
the fight against
HIV/AIDS, like UNAIDS,
the Global Fund to fight
AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria, the World Bank
and the U.S. President's
Emergency Plan for AIDS
Relief, and urged them
to "work as a team."
At the opening session
of this week’s
conference Sunday, U.N.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
asked wealthy donor
countries to provide
more funds for the fight
against AIDS, in order
to achieve universal
access to prevention and
treatment by 2010.
But most experts believe
these goals, adopted at
the 2001 U.N. General
Assembly Special Session
on HIV/AIDS, will not be
met.
"The responses to HIV
and AIDS require
long-term and sustained
financing. As more
people go on treatment
and live longer, budgets
will have to increase
considerably over the
next few decades," said
Ban.
Dr. Alex Coutinho of the
Infectious Disease
Institute of Makerere
University, Uganda
underscored the need for
systems to fight AIDS in
rural and other
hard-to-reach areas, as
well as outreach to and
support for marginalised
and at-risk communities,
like immigrants.
He also advocated
greater involvement in
prevention by people
living with HIV as a
catalyst for change, and
said the best way to
support AIDS orphans is
by keeping their parents
alive.
Elisabet Fadul, with the
Dominican Network for
Youth Rights/Global
Youth Partners, pointed
out that 40 percent of
new infections worldwide
occur among young people
between the ages of 15
and 24, and said that is
why "evidence-based"
sexual health plans are
needed to provide access
for young people.
These actions and
policies, she said,
should engage youth, and
must take the problems
they face, like poverty
and unemployment, into
account. "Are the
current prevention
strategies effective?
Are they based on
evidence?" she asked.
Fadul congratulated the
ministers of education
and health of 33 Latin
American and Caribbean
nations who agreed on
intersectoral strategies
for integral sex
education and promotion
of sexual health on Aug.
1 in the Mexican
capital.
But she urged them to go
beyond mere rhetoric.
More than 20,000
delegates from 188
countries, including
experts, government
officials, donors,
activists and people
living with HIV, are
meeting through Friday
at the conference in
Mexico City to discuss
scientific advances,
prevention challenges,
and the funds dedicated
to the fight against the
epidemic, as well as the
continuing stigma and
discrimination. |
|
|
|
|
|
