Global gains in the fight against HIV decline in a context of reduced funding

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | According to UNAIDS Global AIDS Update 2019, the pace of progress in reducing new HIV infections, expanding access to treatment and ending AIDS-related deaths is slowing.

The report; The communities in the Center present a mixed picture because of the growing gap between the resources needed and those available to manage the disease, with donors providing less funding and domestic investments growing too slowly to offset inflation. For the first time, the global resources available for the AIDS response have dropped significantly, by almost $ 1 billion.

The report says that about 1.7 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2018, a decrease of 16% from 2010, mainly due to steady progress in most of the world. Eastern and Southern Africa, the region most affected by HIV.

Jose Antonio Izazola, UNAIDS Special Adviser on Resource and Finance Monitoring, said the funding gap in the fight against HIV was 7.2 billion shillings, or 26.2 billion shillings per year. 2020. By 2018, $ 19 billion was available for the fight against AIDS. reply

UNAIDS urges that, in order to continue making progress in the fight against AIDS, all partners must step up their actions and invest in the response, including by fully funding the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Tuberculosis. malaria, with at least $ 14 billion in replenishment in October and increased bilateral and national HIV funding.

"Political leadership is urgently needed to put AIDS back on the agenda. This is the only way to end AIDS can become a reality, "said Gunilla Carlsson, Acting Executive Director of UNAIDS. Gunilla added that ending HIV / AIDS requires starting with the right and smart investments and adopting a rights-based approach to reaching those most affected by HIV.

Despite the lack of funding, AIDS-related deaths have continued to decline, along with access to treatment and improved HIV / TB service delivery. Since 2010, the number of AIDS-related deaths has decreased by 33% to 770,000 in 2018.

Progress is also continuing towards the 90-90-90 goals. Some 79% of people living with HIV knew their HIV status in 2018, with 78% knowing their treatment status and 86% of people living with HIV who had access to treatment were virally repressed, now alive and healthy and preventing the transmission of the virus. the virus.

The report highlights how central communities play a central role in the fight against AIDS. In all sectors of the AIDS response, community empowerment and ownership has led to greater use of HIV prevention and treatment services, reduction of stigma and discrimination, and protection of rights. humans.

However, Laurel Sprague, UNAIDS 'special advocate for community mobilization, deplores the inadequate funding of community-led interventions and the negative political environments prevent these successes from reaching their full potential and generating maximum impact .

Mary Mahy, UNAIDS Special Advisor for Epidemiology and Surveillance, said more needs to be done to expand access to child treatment. She observes that an estimated 940,000 children (ages 0-14) living with HIV on antiretroviral therapy in 2018 are almost double the number of treatments in 2010. However, the goal is far from # 39 to be 1.6 million in 2018.

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