Brazzaville, 1 December 2013  –-   “I would like to…urge all countries to promote HIV testing for everyone and to follow WHO guidelines in providing treatment for those with the disease.”

This call for everyone to know his or her HIV status is contained in the message of World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo, on the occasion of this year’s World AIDS Day, to be observed across the globe on 1 December. 

In the message, released in Brazzaville on Sunday, Dr Sambo also said “We must ensure that there are no interruptions in drug supplies in order to enhance adherence and retention and reduce the emergence of drug resistance.”

He pointed out that winning the fight against HIV/AIDS required that HIV prevention efforts be scaled up in all countries by using highly effective approaches including medical male circumcision, earlier initiation of antiretroviral medicines and the promotion of girls’ education. 

Dr Sambo stated that sub-Saharan Africa remained the region hardest hit by HIV/AIDS, with nearly 25 million people living with HIV. In spite of this, he went on, significant progress is being made in the fight against the epidemic, as evidenced by the reduction in new infections among adults and children as well as improved access to antiretroviral medicines.

“At the end of 2012, 7,5 million were receiving treatment compared to 50,000 a decade earlier, he said, adding that “owing to the increase in access to HIV treatment, the number of people dying from AIDS-related causes has reduced.” 

Dr Sambo attributed these achievements to the collective efforts of African governments and partners through their significant financial investment in the HIV/AIDS response, improved access to drugs and commodities in all countries, the expansion of innovative ways of delivering services and “activism” which  has promoted visibility of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

These achievements notwithstanding, the Regional Director said that countries should do more to address the several barriers to HIV prevention and control in the Region. Some of these challenges include low level of awareness of people of their HIV status and inadequate access to treatment and other HIV services, especially for vulnerable and high-risk populations. Others are the high rate at which people undergoing treatment drop out of care and the heavy dependence of many national HIV programmes in the Region on international financial resources. 

The theme for this year’s commemoration  is  “Getting to zero infections, zero discrimination and zero deaths”.It highlights the need for sustained reduction of new HIV infections, increased access to treatment and  the elimination of all inequalities and barriers to HIV prevention and control.

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Communication, Media and Advocacy Unit 
cam [at] afro.who.int (cam[at]afro[dot]who[dot]int)  tel: +47 241 39100