Washington — Investments in HIV prevention and treatment are paying off, and now is not the time to pull back.
“We are at this pivot point of incredible scientific and program opportunity mixed with the challenge for funding,” HIV/AIDS advocate Chris Collins told reporters at the State Department’s Foreign Press Center in Washington on the eve of World AIDS Day. “Our investments in science resulted in proven ways to begin to end the worst epidemic of our time. Doing that is within our grasp.”
AIDS was identified 30 years ago, and the United States has played a leading role in achieving scientific progress and in translating science into programs. Collins said PEPFAR, the main U.S. program fighting global AIDS, has saved millions of lives and reduced the cost of treating one HIV patient with antiretroviral drugs by 24 percent since 2010. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that for every 1,000 patients treated for one year, 228 HIV-positive people avert death.
Investments in science and delivery services mean that more people are being reached with prevention and treatment services. According to a recent report from the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), that has led to a leveling off of HIV infection rates and decreases in child infection and mortality rates, said Collins, vice president of the Washington-based Foundation for AIDS Research, which advocates for more financial support for HIV/AIDS research. “We’ve been doing more in what we know works, like male circumcision and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV,” he said.
The UNAIDS report cites four countries where infection rates have fallen to a plateau after peaking: Botswana, Malawi, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. UNAIDS suggests that for the plateau to dip again, even more delivery of prevention and treatment services is needed, Collins said.
“We need to move from a short-term, piecemeal approach to a long-term strategic response with matching investments,” the U.N.’s Michael Sidibé wrote in the report.
Yet, Collins noted that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced that it is not asking for new proposals because it lacks enough funding. The Global Fund has been “at the core of multilateral efforts in getting life-saving services to people,” he said.
The combination of progress in finding ways to prevent and treat HIV patients combined with the challenge of encouraging funders to continue support for more HIV/AIDS research and programs will be the focus of the next biannual International AIDS Conference, to be held in Washington in July 2012, said Collins, one of the event’s organizers.
“We either invest now in what we know works or we’ll be spending on [fighting AIDS] for many years to come.”
