Only 28% of children who need antiretroviral treatment can obtain it, an HIV specialist at the World Health Organisation has said.
Only 28% of children who need antiretroviral treatment can obtain it, an HIV specialist at the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.
WHO statics reveal that 600,000 fewer deaths than in 2005 were recorded in 2011 in which 1.7 million people died while 700,000 less new HIV infections were also recorded than in 2002 out of the 2.5 million newly infected with HIV.
In a statement released yesterday (November 29) the world health mother body said: “Given the spread of the epidemic today, getting to zero may sound difficult but significant progress is underway.”
This is in reaction to this year’s World AIDS Day theme Getting to Zero: Zero new HIV infections, zero deaths from AIDS-related illness, zero discrimination.
Dr Gottfried Hirnschall, director of WHO’s HIV department, said many countries are facing economic difficulties yet most are managing to continue expansion of access to antiretroviral medicines.
“The challenge now is to ensure that global progress is mirrored at all levels and in all places so that people, whoever they are and wherever they live, can obtain antiretroviral therapy when they need it. However, in all regions of the world some groups of people are still not able to access HIV prevention and treatment especially children,” Dr Hirnschall said.
In 2011, at the UN General Assembly, governments agreed to set the goal of getting 15 million HIV-infected people worldwide on life-saving antiretroviral medicines by 2015.
“The latest global statistics suggest that, provided countries are able to sustain current efforts, this target is within reach. The 2015 target looks more achievable now than ever before,” Dr Hirnschall said.
It is estimated that currently 8 million people in low- and middle-income countries are accessing the treatment they need, up from only 0.4 million in 2003.
“The challenge now is to ensure that global progress is mirrored at all levels and in all places so that people, whoever they are and wherever they live, can obtain antiretroviral therapy when they need it,” added Dr Hirnschall.
He said geographical factors make it more difficult to deliver services and Dr Hirnschall said it is one of WHO’s priorities to help countries move closer to universal health coverage.
“Stigma, discrimination and legal issues are often significant barriers to accessing effective care. Adolescent girls, sex workers, men who have sex with men and people who use drugs often remain vulnerable and marginalized. Migrants frequently have only limited access to health services. As a result, they often struggle to obtain the health services they need, including the provision of antiretroviral therapy,” he said.
“While countries redouble their efforts to offer antiretrovirals to all those who need them there is growing evidence that a wider, more strategic use of these medicines offers new benefits.
“Studies show that the same medicines we use to save lives and keep people healthy can also stop people from transmitting HIV to sexual partners and to infants through mother-to-child transmission,” Dr Hirnschall added.
COMMENTS