6 May 2016 — The UN Secretary General has today released a report on ending HIV/AIDS, "On the Fast-Track to End the AIDS epidemic", ahead of the UN High Level Meeting on HIV in June. The report can be found here.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) responds to the report as follows:
“We saw a doubling of the number of people on life-saving HIV treatment over the last five years in order to exceed the global commitment of reaching 15 million people with treatment by 2015. The number of people on treatment will need to double again in the next five years to reach the new goal of 30 million people on HIV treatment by 2020. Every day, we need to see more people starting HIV treatment than the day before if the world wants to get ahead of the wave with this epidemic.
“We also need to see much more done in countries where still so few people who need HIV treatment are receiving it, like in the West and Central Africa regions, where only a quarter of people in need are on treatment.
“Governments must re-commit to their shared global responsibility to cover the costs for HIV treatment to achieve the 90/90/90 targets*, including by making strong pledges at this year’s Global Fund replenishment conference.”
- Sharonann Lynch, HIV Policy Advisor, Médecins Sans Frontières’ Access Campaign
*The 90/90/90 goals refer to the UNAIDS treatment target that by 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status; that by 2020, 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy; and that by 2020, 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have ‘undetectable’ levels of virus in their blood (viral suppression).