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More money, more prevention and less repression for the population at risk . These are the main messages of the International Conference on AIDS, inaugurated yesterday Amsterdam to avoid the rebound of an epidemic that has made 35 million dead.
Thousands of delegates among researchers, activists and people carrying this deadly virus met Monday for a five-day meeting marked by warnings about risks of complacency and lack of funds.
The 22nd International Conference on AIDS will seek until Friday to capitalize on the power of famous activists like the actress Charlize Theron the singer Elton John or Prince Henry of England to advance a struggle that, according to experts, is losing ground in some parts of the world.
" In Eastern Europe and Central Asia new infections have increased by 30% since 2010 ," warned Linda-Gail Bekker, president of the International AIDS Society (IAS)
"This conference, we hope (…), will also focus in the only region of the world where HIV is growing rapidly, largely because of the
"Despite the remarkable progress made, progress to end AIDS is slow," denounced on his side Tedros Ghebreyesus general manager of the US Department of Health. World Health Organization (WHO). 19659002] He warned that the 2020 AIDS goals of the UN would not be achieved "because there are too many places in the world where people do not get it the prevention and treatment services they need. "
Currently, 36.9 million people live with the HIV virus hoping that it will not get worse by becoming AIDS. Nearly three out of five are on antiretroviral therapy to prevent the highest proportion ever achieved.
The number of infections is reduced and, for the first time since the beginning of the century, total annual deaths were less than one million in 2016 (990,000) and again in 2017 (940,000 ) .
But paradoxically, these advances imply a loosening of prevention which, with a "We will have problems if we do not have more money," said the US researcher Mark Dybul, former director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS.
Last year, 20,600 million euros were spent on AIDS programs in low- and middle-income countries, which funded 56% of the programs themselves, according to Onusida
. The UN's fight against AIDS calculates that they are running out of 7,000 million dollars a year for this disease to cease to be a threat to global public health by 2030.
The community of investigators and associations especially fear that contributions are reduced Americans
Since 1945 Donald Trump was elected president, the United States, historically the largest contributor to the fight against AIDS, warned against budget cuts that, for the moment, have not materialized. [19659002] The widespread improvement in the world of the epidemic situation hides the strong disparities that exist.
Infections are on the rise in about 50 countries and this is due to the lack of prevention or repressive legislation against at-risk populations, such as homosexuals or drug addicts .
That is why associations urge international policymakers to stop repressing drug addiction. give priority to risk reduction programs, for example by providing sterile syringes or consumption rooms.
"Say no to the war on drugs" ("Say no to the war on drugs") calls for coalition Coalition PLUS to join forces in a campaign that modifies a US anti-drug slogan well known from the Regan era, in the 1980s, who said "Say no" ("Say no" to drugs).
Against the drug is "the best ally of the epidemics of HIV and viral hepatitis" and "leads to a real health catastrophe," denounces Coalition PLUS.
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