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End AIDS with a fresh approach: WHO

Poonam Khetrapal Singh (who

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Mon, November 30, 2015

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End AIDS with a fresh approach: WHO Poonam Khetrapal Singh (who.int) (who.int)

Poonam Khetrapal Singh (who.int)

The WHO Southeast Asia is calling on countries in the region to prioritize HIV intervention in a drive to end AIDS by 2030, a target set in the newly agreed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).   

'€œBold actions will be required to achieve the Sustainable Development Agenda'€™s target of ending AIDS by 2030, with the health sector playing a central role,'€ WHO Southeast Asia regional director Poonam Khetrapal Singh said on Monday, in a statement ahead of World AIDS Day, which falls on Tuesday.

Prioritizing HIV intervention, she said, included adopting new approaches to testing, such as community-based HIV testing, as well as ensuring all HIV-positive people were given treatment, while those identified as negative, especially those who were at risk, should be given access to HIV prevention and re-testing services.

'€œThe new targets are ambitious but achievable,'€ Khetrapal Singh said.

Citing an example, she said that by the end of 2014, Thailand had tested and enrolled more than 60 percent of its people living with HIV into treatment.

'€œ[Thailand] is one of 10 countries in the world to have achieved this distinction. Many other countries in the region can and must accelerate and scale up HIV testing and treatment programs,'€ said the WHO regional director.

The new global sustainable development agenda sets the target of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 by reducing the number of new infections by an additional 25 percent by 2020 and ensuring that 90 percent of people living with HIV are aware of their infection and 90 percent of them have access to antiretroviral treatment. It also needs to be ensured that 90 percent of those receiving antiretroviral treatment have no detectable virus in their blood.

According to WHO data, since 2000, new infections have fallen by 35 percent and AIDS-related deaths by 24 percent. Close to 16 million people are now receiving antiretroviral treatment. In Southeast Asia, new infections declined by 32 percent between 2000 and 2014, and almost 1.3 million people are on antiretroviral treatment.

'€œHowever, gaps remain. More than half of the people with HIV are unaware of their status. Those who test do so late, when they are showing symptoms and their immune systems are already compromised,'€ said Khetrapal Singh.

Only 36 percent of the people living with HIV in the region are on treatment, and fewer than 30 percent of people with HIV are able to get to the point where the multiplication of the HIV virus in their body is suppressed '€“ a point essential to preventing further transmission.

'€œWe need to ensure that HIV responses are firmly positioned in the development and health agenda of the SDGs [...],'€ Khetrapal Singh said. (ebf)(+)

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