Region to benefit from new UN framework for HIV-AIDS anti-retroviral treatment

UNITED NATIONS, July 14, CMC – The United Nations says the Caribbean will be among several countries to benefit from a new framework that seeks to give 15 million people with HIV/AIDS access to anti-retroviral treatment by the year 2015.



In launching the new framework, Treatment 2015, on Saturday, the UN said it offers countries and partners “practical and innovative ways to increase the number of people accessing antiretroviral medicines that will enable those living with HIV to live longer and healthier lives, as well as help prevent new infections.”



The Caribbean is second to sub-Saharan Africa in the prevalence of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.



“Reaching the 2015 target will be a critical milestone,” said Michel Sidibé, the executive director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).



“Countries and partners need to urgently and strategically invest resources and efforts to ensure that everyone has access to HIV prevention and treatment services,” he added.



The UN said Treatment 2015 takes into account the new consolidated guidelines on the use of antiretroviral drugs for treating and preventing HIV infection released last month by the World Health Organization (WHO), which recommend that people living with HIV start antiretroviral therapy (ART) much earlier.



Nearly 10 million people living with HIV were accessing antiretroviral treatment last year.Accorinding to the UN, the target to reach 15 million is “a push to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) that seeks to have halted and begun the spread of HIV/AIDS by the 2015 deadline.”



The new strategy emphasizes the importance of HIV testing and counselling as a gateway to expand access to antiretroviral therapy in 30 unidentified countries, and outlines three pillars essential to reaching the 2015 target, which consist of: increasing demand for HIV testing and treatment services; mobilizing resources and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of spending, and ensuring more people have access to antiretroviral therapy.