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More money, more prevention and less repression for the population at risk: these messages will be repeated insistently from Monday in Amsterdam at the International AIDS Conference to avoid a rebound of this epidemic , which caused 35 million deaths (the figure is ten times the population of Uruguay).
This big meeting, which takes place every two years, awaits celebrities like Prince Enrique, actress Charlize Theron or singer Elton John between Monday and Friday. , in addition to 15,000 experts and activists.
Currently, 36.9 million people are living with the HIV virus, hoping that it will not worsen by becoming AIDS. Nearly three out of five are on antiretroviral therapy to avoid it, the highest proportion ever recorded.
According to experts, the number of infected people is increasing in Eastern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Russia. "Being screened for your condition and having access to treatment is a challenge in our area, especially for young people like me," said Yana Panfilova, founder of The Director of the World Organization. of Health (WHO), Tedro Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned that "no one should stop receiving treatment or die because of HIV, because"
The number of infections is reduced and, for the first time However, since the beginning of the century, the annual number of deaths was lower than in 2016 (990,000) and again in 2017 (940,000).
But paradoxically, these advances lead to a relaxation of prevention, which, combined with a reduction in international funding, fears a rebound of the epidemic.
"The last time I spoke here in 1992, I could not imagine coming back 26 years later, alive and in good health, "said David Barr, an activist American ste seropositive, at a symposium organized the day before. The Conference
But this success is "incredibly fragile," he warns, fearing a return to "the horror of 1992" when there was a wave of infections and deaths.
One of the main concerns is the issue of funding. "We will have problems if we do not have more money," said US researcher Mark Dybul, former director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS. The worst case scenario, he says, is that lack of funding adds to an explosion of new infections due to growing demographics in some of the most affected countries, particularly in Africa.
"Mix these two items and you'll have a" Last year, 20,600 million euros were spent on AIDS programs in low- and middle-income countries, which raised fears that the world will lose control of the epidemic. "They have funded 56 percent of the programs themselves, according to UNAIDS.
But the UN AIDS agency says that 39, there remains 7 billion dollars a year for this disease to cease to be a threat to public health globally by 2030.
The community of researchers and associations is especially concerned that American contributions
And the generalized improvement in the world of the epidemic situation hides the strong Existing areas
Infections are on the rise in about 50 countries, due to lack of prevention, either by repressive legislation against populations at risk, such as homosexuals or drug addicts.
to international policymakers to stop repressing drug abuse and harm reduction programs, for example by providing sterile syringes or consumer rooms.
"Say No to the War on Drugs," asks Coalition PLUS to join forces in a campaign that changes a drug slogan of the Reagan era in the 1980s that said, "Say no to drugs. "
The war on drugs is" the best ally of HIV and AIDS epidemics "according to the estimates of Coalition PLUS
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