More than 40 years after its appearance, AIDS remains a major public health problem despite advances in tritherapies that allow people living with HIV to lead an almost normal life. Sharon Lewin, president of the International AIDS Society (IAS), explains that while there is still no vaccine or cure, effective antiretroviral treatments do exist. The challenge now is that they are accessible to all.
RFI: What has changed for AIDS patients in recent years?
Sharon Lewin : The like is still a global pandemic. There are 37 million people living with HIV, 1.5 million new infections and 600,000 deaths every year. So there is still a very significant impact of HIV in the world. What has changed is the availability of antiviral treatments that heal well and allow people to have a better life expectancy. And antiviral therapy is available to 75% of people living with HIV.
Is the challenge now to make access to these treatments easier?
The goal of the global community is to make it accessible to 95% of people. We don’t have a vaccine and we don’t have a cure. So once people are on treatment, they have to take it for life. We have excellent antivirals accessible to 70% of AIDS patients. But what about the remaining 30%? We know they are in countries where there is still stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV.
What obstacles still remain?
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