AIDS. For lack of money, the world risks "losing control of the epidemic"

"We will have problems if we do not have more money," said Sunday Mark Dybul, a researcher and diplomat American, at a symposium held before the high mbad of the fight against AIDS, in Amsterdam.

The fight against AIDS needs billions of dollars more, otherwise the epidemic may start again, experts warned this Sunday in Amsterdam, on the eve of the opening of the International Conference on this Disease.

"We're going to have problems if we do not have more money" Mark Dybul, a US researcher and diplomat, told a symposium held before Mbad of the fight against AIDS, from Monday to Friday. Mr. Dybul is a former leader of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, a foundation that invests in the fight against this disease.

36.9 million people are living with HIV

The worst case scenario according to him: that the Lack of funding is combined with the risk of an explosion of new infections due to rapid population growth in some hard-hit countries, particularly in Africa. "Mix these two elements and you will end up in a major crisis" he warned, fearing that "the world will lose control of the epidemic" . [19659006] Today, 36.9 million people live with the HIV virus, hoping that it does not worsen in AIDS. The number of infections is declining and for the first time since the beginning of the century, the annual death toll has dropped below one million in 2016 (990,000) and 2017 (940,000). But UNAIDS, the UN's AIDS agency, estimates that $ 7 billion a year in funding for the disease is no longer a threat to global public health in 2030.

The community of researchers and badociations is especially concerned about a decline in US endowments. Since the election of Donald Trump, the United States, the first major contributor to the fight against AIDS, have planned cuts, which have not yet been adopted by Congress. "Unless we take drastic measures, we will not even get close" to the goal set for 2030, said Nduku Kilonzo of the Kenya National Council for AIDS Control. "We are very, very far from our goal, not only in terms of eliminating AIDS, but simply prevention" she stressed, emphasizing that the funds dedicated to the distribution of condoms had dropped sharply.