Sidibé starts thinking about putting everyone on treatment by 2030

UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibé can happily list the recent successes that the global community has scored against HIV/AIDS. And he can update you on progress of the 90-90-90 targets, Global Health Now reports.

“This is the first time in the fight against this epidemic that we can start thinking about breaking the backbone of it because never before we have been able to say that we reduce mortality by 50%. Never before we have been able to say that we are seeing an infection being reduced in some important countries like South Africa, in Zimbabwe, Zambia, and others. Also for the first time, we have more people on treatment than people waiting for treatment. So, I think we are seeing a success story on 90-90-90. We are seeing already that almost 78% of people are being tested. We are seeing, globally, the numbers of people who have treatment exceed 58—close to 60%. So, we are very happy with what we are seeing with 90-90-90,” says Michel Sidibé.

“If we manage to continue and keep the same pace, we'll reach our goals in 90-90-90 by 2020 and we'll be able to really start to thinking about... putting practically everyone on treatment by 2030. That is very important, a significant transformation”, stressed UNAIDS executive director.

He drew particular attention to China: “We are seeing, in China it was zero tolerance for drug users a few years back. Today, they have the biggest harm reduction programs, with methadone and other distribution, in Asia. I think it's important to bring evidence. Scientific evidence to discuss with politicians. Make them understand what we are losing by losing population—a segment of society, which are completely decimated because they have to hide themselves.”