Alarm rings in Asia Pacific for not making U-equals-U and HIV prevention accessible to all

The latest 2024 data from United Nations joint programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) show that highest number of people who got newly infected with HIV in Asia and the Pacific region in 2023, were linked to those who do not know that they were HIV positive, followed by those who were diagnosed but not able to access treatment, or not virally suppressed. Governments have failed to ensure that every person living with HIV receives lifesaving antiretroviral therapy and remains virally suppressed. If a person is virally suppressed, then there is no risk of any HIV transmission linked to this person, as per the World Health Organization (WHO).

Is HIV epidemic outpacing the AIDS response in Asia Pacific?

[हिंदी] With nine months left to meet the HIV-related 2020 targets, we are not on track to end AIDS by 2030. In Asia Pacific region, despite unprecedented progress initially in scaling up HIV programmes for prevention, treatment, care and support (in different countries and key populations), we are still lagging way behind. The UNAIDS (Joint United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS) report succinctly observes "Asia and the Pacific boasts some of the earliest successes in responding to the HIV epidemic. The region's response, however, is highly uneven, and several national HIV programmes are not keeping pace with their growing HIV epidemics. Creeping complacency in other countries risks squandering gains made thus far."

Urgent & unprecedented actions required to be on track to prevent HIV & STIs | #APCRSHR10 Dialogues

13 months left to deliver on 90:90:90 promises of 2020

S H O B H A   S H U K L A   - C N S

[हिंदी] Despite promise of governments to end AIDS by 2030 and considerable progress on putting people living with HIV on antiretroviral therapy (ART) along with reduction in AIDS deaths, the decline in new HIV infections has stalled over the past 8 years in Asia Pacific.

Writing's on the wall: U=U is the lynchpin to #endAIDS

This Podcast features a special conversation with inspiring person behind the game-changing campaign, Undetectable equals Untransmittable (U=U), Bruce Richman. At 10th IAS Conference on HIV Science (#IAS2019), CNS Managing Editor Shobha Shukla was in conversation with Bruce Richman.

Writing's on the wall: U=U is the lynchpin to #endAIDS

#IAS2019: Achieving 100:100:100 + zero HIV transmission is warranted to #endAIDS

AIDS Society of India (ASI), CNS, People's Health Organization and partners are co-hosting this press conference at 10th IAS Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2019), on "Achieving 100:100:100 + Zero HIV transmission is warranted to #endAIDS". This session will be held on Monday, 22 July, 11:00 – 11:45 am, in Press Conference Room (PCR), Casa Montejo 3, Centro Citibanamex, Mexico.

#UHCday: Voices of 7 women leaders on boosting HIV prevention to #endAIDS

Complacency kills: Prevention cannot take a backseat while we scale up treatment coverage to #endAIDS

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

[Webinar recording, podcast] "The global health system is only as strong as its weakest parts" had said UNDP’s Mandeep Dhaliwal in her article around last year's World AIDS Day. The context has only deepened over the year, not only for ending AIDS but also for health security in general. With Universal Health Coverage Day (UHC Day) on 12th December this year, time is running out to catch up on lost opportunities to advance towards UHC.

Clock is ticking: 26 months to go for AIDS 90-90-90 goals

Clock is ticking: 26 months left to meet AIDS 90-90-90 targets

[Recording] [Photos] [हिंदी] Governments have promised to end AIDS by 2030 but are we on track? Experts reviewed progress we are making towards some HIV related goals with a deadline earlier, such as the 90-90-90 targets set for 2020.

Slump in fight against #AIDS can derail progress made so far!

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

[Podcast] “Tremendous progress against AIDS over the past 15 years has inspired a global commitment to end the epidemic by 2030. Out of the total 36.9 million people living with HIV (PLHIV) globally, 21.7 million of them were on antiretroviral therapy (ART) by 2017. But we should also note that 1.8 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2017" said Dr Ishwar Gilada, who was Chairing a session at 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018) in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Ending AIDS, the Dutch way

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

Alphonsus Stoelinga, Netherlands Ambassador to India

We are all very familiar with the phrase ‘going Dutch’ (meaning each person of a group pays one's own expenses in an outing), but are we also aware of dealing with HIV/AIDS the Dutch way? Perhaps very few of us know that "Amsterdam, which is currently hosting the 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018) from 23-27th July 2018 - the largest conference for any global health issue in the world - became the first city in the world to overshoot the 90:90:90 target, set by UNAIDS (joint United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS), in 2017 itself with a continuum progress of 94:90:94,” said Alphonsus Stoelinga, Netherlands Ambassador to India, in an exclusive interview given to CNS (Citizen News Service) on the eve of AIDS 2018.

Countdown is on: 32 months left to achieve 90:90:90 HIV targets

UP Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh met a high level delegation of AIDS Society of India (national network of HIV medical experts) led by ASI President Dr Ishwar Gilada and Head of Microbiology Department of Sanjay Gandhi Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) Professor (Dr) Tapan N Dhole. "Master plan is needed to control HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C infections in UP" said Dr Ishwar Gilada, who is among the few doctors to begin HIV care when the first case got diagnosed in India in 1986.

Point-of-care HIV testing: Important 'cog in the wheel' towards ending AIDS by 2030

Shobha Shukla - CNS (Citizen News Service)

HIV-related point-of-care testing can potentially play a major role in accelerating the pace of progress towards achieving the '90-90-90' targets of the UNAIDS (joint United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS). Increasing access to quality and accurate diagnostics which function in low-resource settings is undoubtedly a critically important step in HIV care.

Can innovation drive HIV responses to meet 90:90:90 targets by 2020?

Bobby Ramakant, CNS Special Correspondent
Joint United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is mobilizing governments and other partners to achieve new set of targets, referred to as, 90:90:90 by 2020, but with current set of tools, approaches, funding commitments, and challenge that HIV poses to the world, the goal seems certainly a bold and ambitious one. Without innovation, at current pace of HIV responses on the ground, we are very likely to fail meeting the targets. We not only need to accelerate the search for better and effective technologies to help fight AIDS effectively but also need to improvise and innovate in rolling out evidence-based approaches.