Urgent changes are needed to stop the HIV epidemic on the planet



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With nearly 40 million people infected worldwide and about two million new cases each year, HIV is the epidemic of our time. A problem that has arisen for three decades and in which significant progress has been made in recent years: since 2010, the number of new infections has decreased by 18%.

However, this decline has not been fast enough to meet the goals that the planet has set for stopping this epidemic. And the risk of falling into a "dangerous complacency" threatens all the efforts made so far, warns a commission of more than 40 international experts, organized by Lancet magazine and led by the International AIDS Society (IAS , by its acronym in English]

In a report that will be formally presented at the 2018 International AIDS Conference – which begins Monday in the Netherlands – the authors declare that it is urgent to change the way of

"Despite remarkable progress in the response to HIV, the situation has stagnated over the past decade, revitalizing this work to be demanding, but the future health and well-being of millions of people is demanding. that we take up this challenge, "says Dr. Linda-Gail Bekker, president of the IAS

The opportunity to achieve the 90-90-90 goal proposed by UNAIDS for 2030 is far away.This is to say e 90% of people infected with HIV know their status, 90% of them receive antiretroviral treatment and 90% of people on treatment have undetectable levels of the virus.

"It is an extremely complex goal because it requires a large investment of resources, availability of access to diagnosis and treatment, an education system and permanent prevention that all countries can not afford, "says Dr. Luis Miguel Noriega, head of the Infectiology Specialization Program at the Faculty of Medicine." When you look at the distribution of the problem, you see a huge inequality, which affects countries with fewer resources and where you also have to overcome cultural barriers, stigma and discrimination against the most vulnerable groups. ", adds Dr. Carlos Prez, infectious disease therapist at the UC School of Medicine.

At l. Worldwide, 44% of new HIV infections occurred among people from marginalized groups (such as gay and bisexual men, injecting drug users sex workers and transgender people.)

Country Injury

The United Nations (UN) considers that the goals of the fight against AIDS are under threat because of the 39, increasing the number of new HIV infections in 50 countries around the world, including Chile, which has the highest percentage of new cases in Latin America last year.

"We give alarm" Michel Sidib, director of UNAIDS, who assured that entire regions have experienced setbacks. "The results obtained in new infections are not sustainable, the means are more limited than those promised by many politicians and large population groups have been ignored."

$ 21,000 million available for HIV action in 2017 AIDS will not be enough, according to Sidib, who insists that to achieve the 2030 goals, more resources will be needed. Today, only three out of five carriers of HIV have access to antiretroviral therapy.

All these factors make experts fear a resurgence of the epidemic. "This loss of momentum occurs when health systems need to be strengthened to cope with the growing number of" communicable diseases, "says Bekker, with regard to the need, moreover, to attract Attention to comorbidities that affect patients. As the population of HIV-positive people ages due to the effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy, we face a group that presents an increased risk of other noncommunicable diseases (such as obesity, stroke, and # 39; hypertension). and cardiovascular diseases, since HIV produces a chronic inflammatory condition) that require attention. "

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