The XXIV International AIDS Conference #IAS2022 was held in Montreal, Canada from 29 July to 2 August.

 

August 3, 2022

On the eve of the opening of the conference UNAIDS presented a report that sets out “progress in the field of HIV prevention and care is slowing around the world, putting millions of people in mortal danger. In recent years, we have seen an increase in the annual number of HIV infections in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa. According to UNAIDS, in Asia and the Pacific region the number of new HIV infections is raising where there has been a decline.  Urgent action is needed to address the inequalities that drive AIDS, to prevent millions of new HIV infections this decade and to defeat the AIDS pandemic.”

These data once again illustrated the relevance of the conference; among its participants were representatives from communities of people living with HIV (PLHIV), government officials, scientists, leaders of non-governmental and international organizations from 172 countries. Some of the participants joined virtually. During the conference RADIAN organized a symposium on supporting the HIV response. The activities of the project "Almaty model of control over the HIV epidemic" were presented, among other things, by Anarkhan Nurkerimova, Deputy Chief Physician of the AIDS Center in Almaty. She noted as positive examples the “Support for health” nursing care program, individual work on patient lists, well-established interaction with NGOs to provide psychological and social assistance to PLHIV from priority groups. All these activities are implemented within the framework of the project.

Anarkhan Nurkerimova said, “Together with project partners, we plan to focus on finding PLHIV who have become detached from observation and treatment, as well as on achieving viral suppression in PLHIV who are taking antiretroviral therapy. We strive to decentralize medical care for PLHIV with the involvement of primary medical and social care organizations and the use of modern technologies, one of the examples is our joint online service for ordering HIV tests for self-testing, hivtest.kz.”

The breakthrough event at the conference was the announcement of the New Global Alliance to end AIDS in children by 2030, which includes UN agencies, civil society groups, governments and representatives of international organizations. Indeed, there are more than 75 percent of all adults living with HIV are receiving some kind of treatment, among children this figure is only 52 percent in the world today.

The members of the Global Alliance have identified four main areas of work:

  • Close the treatment gap among breastfeeding adolescent girls and women living with HIV and optimize treatment continuity;
  • Prevent and detect new HIV infections among pregnant and breastfeeding adolescent girls and women;
  • Promote affordable testing, optimized treatment and comprehensive care for infants, children and adolescents who are exposed to or living with HIV;
  • Address gender inequalities and social and structural barriers to accessing services.

Other important steps were also taken in Montreal to bring the HIV epidemic to a halt and stabilize the situation. For example, the discovery of new long-acting antiretroviral has been announced. New research has shown that injectable PrEP is one of the most effective HIV prevention tools. The WHO has published new guidelines, and the pharmaceutical company ViiV Healthcare has announced the issuance of licenses for the production of generic drugs in 90 countries. But the price should be tens, not hundreds of dollars, because it will take several years to start production of these generics. There is no optimism that generics will be available outside of these 90 countries.

Marina Maximova

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