IS POLITICAL COMMITMENT ENOUGH TO END AIDS?

Djibril Diallo argues that the continent could do more to contain the disease

Despite the commendable progress toward ending AIDS globally, the urgent need to quicken the pace of action in West and Central Africa was unmistakable at the time the “2016 United Nations Political Declaration on ending AIDS” by 2030 was agreed in June 2016. With only 28 per cent of people living with HIV receiving antiretroviral therapy in the region at the end of 2015, compared to the 54 per cent in Eastern and Southern Africa, political leaders in the region were determined to map out a plan to help West and Central Africa catch up with other parts of the world.

The ambition to meet the 90-90-90 targets by 2020 of having 90 per cent of people living with HIV get tested and know their status, 90 per cent of those who know their status put on sustained antiretroviral therapy, and 90 per cent of those on sustained antiretroviral therapy to achieve viral suppression, needed to be kept alive.

In close collaboration with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and other key partners, the region has put together a catch-up plan that is helping to fast track the HIV response to meet the ambitious targets by 2020. Heads of state and government endorsed it during the AIDS Watch Africa meeting held in July, under the leadership of the Chair of the African Union, President Alpha Condé of Guinea, to help get the region’s HIV response back on track in less than two years. It complements existing plans that the countries have been using to address HIV and AIDS.

This new plan gives West and Central Africa the opportunity to own the HIV response through stronger leadership at the national and sub-national levels. It also opens new windows to improve service delivery and secure the necessary funding from governments, development partners and captains of industry in the private sector.

We now have an opportunity to close any gaps in treatment by immediately putting those 850,000 people who had been diagnosed as living with HIV, but were not yet enrolled in care, on antiretroviral therapy. An additional 250,000 people living with HIV, including 60,000 children, can now be newly tested, diagnosed with HIV and immediately linked to sustained antiretroviral therapy. Importantly, an additional 100,000 pregnant women living with HIV can receive antiretroviral therapy to keep them free from AIDS and keep their unborn children free from HIV.

The signs that political leaders are fulfilling their promise to redouble efforts to achieve the “2016 United Nations Political Declaration on ending AIDS” by 2030 are now clear. On September 21, for instance, six heads of state and government joined the UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé at the HIV Fast Track side event convened by President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly in New York to share messages of renewed commitment and hope that the HIV response was gaining the momentum it requires to make AIDS history.

In our region, for instance, Nigeria, the biggest country in the region with the second highest HIV/AIDS burden globally has already succeeded in putting more than one million people living with HIV on life-saving treatment. The country used the opportunity at the side event to make a commitment to put an additional 50,000 people living with HIV on treatment each year, using domestic resources.

The political leadership has given us the guidance that can ensure that most of the 6.5 million people living with HIV in West and Central Africa get to know their status and receive the life-saving treatment that they need in less than two years.

The pace of the HIV response in West and Central Africa is quickening. Our active joint actions on the ground, engaging the authorities, communities, private sector, UN and partners, in the 25 countries of the region is critical to sustaining this new momentum.

Dr. Diallo is the UNAIDS Director of the Regional Support Team for West and Central Africa

WE NOW HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO CLOSE ANY GAPS IN TREATMENT BY IMMEDIATELY PUTTING THOSE 850,000 PEOPLE WHO HAD BEEN DIAGNOSED AS LIVING WITH HIV, BUT WERE NOT YET ENROLLED IN CARE, ON ANTIRETROVIRAL THERAPY