We can now #eindeVIDS if untraceable equals non-transmissible become a reality for all people living with HIV
If every person living with HIV is aware of the positive status, receives life-saving antiretroviral therapy and remains virally suppressed, then not only is the virus undetectable, but also transmissible (You are equal to You). This will not only ensure optimal quality of life for every person living with HIV, but will also help translate the promise of our governments to end AIDS by 2030. We can end AIDS now, said Dr Jyoti Dhar, senior HIV expert from the UK. spoke at the opening of the 13th National Conference of AIDS Association of India (13th ASICON) in Hyderabad.
The pledge to #endAIDS by 2030 is enshrined in the Government of India’s National Health Policy 2017 as well as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Ending AIDS is also a human rights requirement. We have the tools to diagnose everyone living with HIV, we have the tools to provide life-saving antiretroviral therapy, as well as we can monitor viral load and help ensure viral load suppression to “untraceable equal to non-transmissible” a reality to make for everyone. No excuse for not doing so, says Dr Ishwar Gilada, president of 13th ASICON and national president of ASI who is also on the Governing Body of the International Aids Association (IAS).
The 13th ASICON is held on the theme of “Confronting Pandemics with Skill, Accuracy and Perseverance”, in academic partnership with India’s National Aids Control Organization (NACO), National TB Elimination Program (NTEP), World Health Organization (WHO), United States. Nations Joint Program on HIV / AIDS (UNAIDS), International Union Against Tuberculosis and Long Disease (The Union), Center for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) and Association for Health, Allied Research and Education (SHARE ), said Dr Naval Chandra, co-chair of the conference, and senior HIV expert at the Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad.
As per NACO Sankalak Report 2020, there are an estimated 2.35 million (23.49 lakh) people living with HIV (PLHIV) in India and almost three out of four (approximately 76%) of them know their HIV status , and below this 84% (1.49) million or 14.86 lakh) are on antiretroviral therapy (ART). This includes approximately 1.4 million (13.8 lakh) PLHIV that use free lifelong ART from 553 ART centers under the national AIDS control program. Also among those on treatment whose viral load is measured, 84% were virally suppressed.
Annual new HIV infections in India decreased by 37% between 2010 and 2019 compared to the world average of 23%. Similarly, during the same period, AIDS-related deaths in the country decreased by almost 66% compared to the global average of 39% decrease, ASICON expert said while speaking to CNS (Citizen News Service). The decline is even higher than this national average in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and very noticeable among women and children with 73.7% and 65.3% respectively.
Despite progress, however, we are still faced with challenges in achieving the goal of ending AIDS by 2030. While the overall HIV prevalence rate in adults is 0.22, three Indian states showed very high HIV prevalence in the adult population in 2019: Mizoram (2.32%), Nagaland (1.45%) and Manipur (1, 18%). HIV prevalence among most at-risk populations is also very high: almost 28 times higher in people using drugs; 6 to 13 times higher among Hijra / Transgender people, men having sex with men and female sex workers; and 9 times higher among inmates in central prisons (where the population with high-risk behavior is overrepresented) compared to the national adult prevalence rate. More than 69,000 people were newly infected with HIV in 2019 – more than twice the intended 2020 milestone.
This AIDS Congress is with national and world leaders to discuss issues we face in the fight against AIDS and HIV-associated comorbidities and co-infections, including Hepatitis B and hepatitis C, tuberculosis, COVID-19 and other emerging infectious diseases too.
Conference highlights include scientific sessions with the latest research updates on HIV (and HIV-COVID-19) epidemiology, virology, immunology, pathogenesis, strategy for early HIV diagnosis and progress update on the 2020 goal of 90:90:90 and future goal of 95:95:95, Test and treatment strategy, Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), HIV in women, newborns, children and adolescents, HIV and HIV-TB drug resistance, combination prevention, research updates on HIV prevention technologies such as vaccines, HIV treatment science, non-AIDS defining diseases, HIV-TB, HIV hepatitis, HIV and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), HIV and cancers, HIV and COVID-19 including post -COVID / long COVID, TB and COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccines and other emerging infectious diseases, among others.
COVID-19 pandemic has not only exposed the fault lines of unfair health responses, but also the fragility of health systems in the wake of humanitarian crises or emergencies.
The organizers of the conference called for stronger and well-coordinated integrated health responses to end AIDS, TB, COVID-19 and other infectious and non-communicable diseases and social determinants of health, said Dr Dilip Mathai, co-chair of 13th ASICON and Dean of Apollo Institute of Medical Sciences and Research.
“ASICON is the annual national AIDS conference of the AIDS Association of India. Since the pandemic, this is the first personal ASICON conference. 13th ASICON is a three-day meeting where various aspects of HIV and related opportunistic infections and various therapies for the management of HIV infections and COVID-19, and COVID-19 related complications, newer therapies for COVID-19 will be discussed by various experts from India and abroad, ”says Dr N Kumarasamy, Scientific Co-Chair 13th ASICON and Director, Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Voluntary Health Services, Chennai.
“The conference will focus on many thematic areas, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the HIV pandemic and lessons learned from it for future reference,” said Dr Glory Alexander, co-chair of 13th ASICON.
Dr Vijay Yeldandi, Scientific Co-Chair of 13th ASICON and Head of SHARE India, said: “Once again, the AIDS Association of India has put together a wonderful program of particular relevance during the COVID-19 pandemic around all significant developments in HIV policy as well as newer scientific advances to improve the practice of clinical care for people living with HIV are making steady progress in eliminating HIV as a public health threat. ”
13th ASICON provides an important opportunity to learn lessons about what went well and what could have gone better in the last two years of controlling COVID-19, HIV and TB during the pandemic year, as well as the similarities between epidemic and endemic better understand diseases. their geographical aptitude. With less than 106 months left to end AIDS (and 46 months left to end TB) in India, it is high time to join forces to make progress in meeting these public health pledges, as in the sustainable development goals envisaged set, to accelerate.
Shobha Shukla – CNS (Citizen News Service)
Shobha Shukla is the award-winning founding Managing Editor and Executive Director of CNS (Citizen News Service) and is a feminist, health and developmental justice practitioner. the Asia Pacific Regional Media Alliance for Health and Development (APCAT Media). Follow her on Twitter @ shobha1shukla or read her writings here www.bit.ly/ShobhaShukla)
