Hope for a cure

Hope for a cure

The International AIDS Society (IAS) has urged world leaders at a UN General Assembly (UNGASS) high-level meeting on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) to integrate a fourth pillar — HIV cure research ­­­— into the global response to the epidemic.

Although significant progress has also been made towards scaling up access to antiretroviral treatment, the increase in new infections in certain regions, a decrease in funding, and the fact that under new World Health Organisation guidelines HIV patients should be starting their treatment regimens much earlier, mean that universal access targets are way off track.

As new infections continue to outstrip numbers on treatment by two to one in resource-limited settings, the scale of unmet need can only increase.

The IAS has made HIV cure one of its policy priorities. Professor Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, co-discoverer of HIV, Nobel Laureate and IAS president-elect, is guiding the development of a global scientific strategy towards a cure.

This strategy aims at building a global consensus on the state-of-the-art research in the field of HIV reservoirs and defining scientific priorities that must be addressed to tackle HIV persistence in patients undergoing treatment, the key hurdle impeding any alternative to long-term therapy.

The IAS urged leaders at UNGASS to look at the example of the eradication of the smallpox virus for motivation to ensure the inclusion of HIV cure research and its global development

info: www.iasociety.org

You May Also Like

Comments are closed.