Anti-retroviral treatment saves lives of HIV positive people

Wednesday, July 21, 2010 (Daily Graphic Pg 23)

Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah, Vienna, Austria
THE President of the International AIDS Society (IAS) and the co-Chair of the 18th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010), Dr Julio Montaner, said there was strong evidence to show that access to anti-retroviral (ARVs) treatment could save the lives of people infected with HIV and help stop the spread of the epidemic.
He explained that when infected persons were put on treatment, their ability to transmit the disease to others reduced significantly and, therefore, underscored the need for governments to take the issue of accessibility of ARVs seriousy if they sincerely hope to combat its spread.
At a press conference held ahead of the opening of the AIDS 2010 conference in Vienna, Austria, he maintained that for the first time since the development of life-saving treatments for HIV, there were evidence of game-changing scenarios demonstrating that sustained and widespread access to ARV treatment could save lives and help reverse the epidemic.
Dr Montaner, who is also the Director of the B.C Centre for Excellence in HIV and AIDS in Vancouver, Canada said evidence had shown that about 90 per cent of some infected people who were put on treatment, were doing well. He indicated that the figure could move up to 100 per cent if treatment were sustained adding that "at this promising moment, we must stay on course".
He however expressed dissappointment at the attidude of the rich countries (G8) who had failed on their promise to help attain universal access to prevention and treatment by 2015 and doubted that, that target could be achieved.
Dr Montaner pointed out that there were serious problems with the world's political leaders when it came to the issue of HIV treatment adding that there was the need for commitment if any significant achievement could be made.
For her part, the local co-chair of the AIDS 2010 conference, Dr Brigitte Schmied expressed delight that in the past five years, the coverage of HIV treatment in low and middle income countries had increased ten fold to the current figure of five million.
Throwing more light on her earlier statement, Dr Schmied who is also the President of the Austrian AIDS Society said that "just 10 years in Durban, we have shown the sceptics that universal access is achievable; that this is a goal we can and must reach".
She narrated how in developing and poor countries health workers decided who should get treatment and who should not, a situation she pointed out gave them the power to decide who should live and who should die just because drugs were not adequate to be given to all who needed them.
At the press conference to share ideas were community representatives, Vladimir Zhovtyyak and Alexandra Sasha Volgina from Ukraine and Russia respectively. Youth activist Rachel Arinii Judhistari from Indonisia was also present.
Organisers of AIDS 2010 conference chose Vienna partly due to its proximity to Eastern Europe and Central Asia, a region with a growing epidemic fueled primarily by injecting drug use.
Conference delegates, will among other things, examine the epidemic in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as well as in other regions such as Southern Africa.
Ahead of the opening of the conference on Sunday, July 18, a large number of people living with HIV and some AIDS activists marched through the Messe Conference Centre in Vienna.
Dubbed "Die-in" march, the activists delayed the session for some minutes to illustrate how governments around the world are slowing and scaling back thier commitments towards Universal Access to HIV care, treatment and prevention.
Many of the marchers held tombstones with the inscription 'Broken Promises Kill, No Retreat, Fund AIDS'  to remind conference particiapnts and the world of the about 15 million people who are in immediate need of treatment.
The demonstration started with a massive banner drop at the site of the conference and in addition, four  gaint ballons filled with helium flew in front of the conference centre with faces of some world leaders. There were inscriptions which demanded full funding to fight global AIDS.
There are reports to indicate that recently the United States and European governments have pulled back their support for AIDS care, treatment and prevention and also the fact that governments in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe have failed to live up to their commitment to fund AIDS treatment and other health needs as laid out in the Abuja Declaration.
A statement from the marchers indicated that the Global Fund, the organisation responsible for the world's reponse to AIDS crises, was forced to adopt 10 per cent budget cuts to the first two years funding, as well as 25 per cent cuts for the last three years.
"There remain a huge gap for Round 10, which opened in May 2010 which will result in countries scaling back programmes and resisting investment in activities with recurrent costs, such as hiring desperately needed health workers or enrolling new patients on treatment", the statement indicated.
It said in 2010, the US Congress paid $1.05 biliion to Global Fund which was $1.7 less  than the US fair share. For 2011, President Barack Obama had proposed to cut funding to only $1 billion, even though at least $2 billion is needed from the US to begin to close the Global Fund's funding gap.
An AIDS activist with Health Gap in Cameroun, Ms Mabel Takana, said there were many important discussions that would take place at the conference , however in order for any of those discussions to have any relevance, all participants must first address the growing crisis in funding  for AIDS care and prevention.