Aids Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has urged UNaids, government officials, and all stakeholders to urgently place the focus of the global HIV/Aids response on testing, treatment initiation, and late presentation as the Joint UN Programme on HIV/Aids and its partners convene an emergency meeting in South Africa this week.
The AHF is an international non-profit organisation that offers cutting-edge healthcare and advocacy to approximately 1.6 million patients in 45 nations throughout the US, Africa, Latin America/the Caribbean, Asia/Pacific, and Europe. Currently, they are the world's largest non-profit provider of medical care for HIV/Aids.
According to UNaids, these organisations seek to combat the 1.5 million new HIV infections expected in 2021, an increase of 1 million from the 500 000 expected in 2020.
Attendees of the meeting, which aims to "Establish targets and put precision preventive programmes into effect," include 28 countries, accounting for 75% of all new HIV infections worldwide.
“The result must be a heightened feeling of urgency regarding the need to scale up HIV testing, treatment, and targeted programmes to deal with late presenters to care,” according to Dr Penninah Lutung, the AHF Africa Bureau Chief.
“The fight against HIV/Aids is far from over; in order to save millions of preventable deaths and safeguard our most vulnerable communities, including young women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa, the “other epidemic” needs the world's immediate attention.”
Since infectious disease epidemics like Covid-19 and monkeypox will always exist, all stakeholders - including UNaids, governments, civil society, and the commercial sector - must make sure that, despite other health emergencies, a strong HIV/Aids response is implemented.
Over the years, significant progress has been accomplished, but unless it is prioritised that everyone can get tested to determine their status and rapidly receive treatment if necessary, those fragile gains will be lost.
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