The United Nations on Saturday announced
a new campaign to dramatically increase the number of people on HIV
antiretroviral treatment by 2015.
The program, titled Treatment 2015,
aims to combat HIV by increasing the number of people on
antiretroviral treatment from 10 million to 15 million in 2 years.
“Reaching the 2015 target will be a
critical milestone,” said Michel Sidibe, executive director of the
Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). “Countries and partners
need to urgently and strategically invest resources and efforts to
ensure that everyone has access to HIV prevention and treatment
services.”
Ambassador Eric Goosby, who currently
serves as the United States global AIDS coordinator, said increasing
access to antiretroviral treatment is critical to achieving the goal
of zero new infections. People on the therapy have decreased viral
loads, making them far less likely to infect others.
Officials are focusing their efforts in
30 countries which account for 9 out of 10 people who are in need of
antiretroviral therapy but who currently do not have access. Those
countries include Angola, Brazil, China, Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Chad, Colombia, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi,
Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Russian Federation, South Africa, South
Sudan, Thailand, Togo, Uganda, Ukraine, United Republic of Tanzania,
Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe.