HIV Treatment

December 1 Is World AIDS Day

Details: Category: HIV Treatment; Published on Monday, 30 November 2015 00:00; Written by HIVandHepatitis.com

Tuesday, December 1, is World AIDS Day, an opportunity both to remember the millions of people worldwide who have been lost to the epidemic, and to address remaining gaps in HIV prevention, care, and treatment. The U.S. World AIDS Day theme, "The Time to Act is Now," and the global theme of getting on the Fast-Track to end the AIDS epidemic both underscore how the remarkable progress to date has spurred efforts to achieve more ambitious goals.

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"More than 3 decades ago, the first known cases of HIV/AIDS sparked an epidemic in the United States -- ushering in a time defined by how little we knew about it and in which those affected by it faced fear and stigmatization. We have made extraordinary progress in the fight against HIV since that time, but much work remains to be done," stated President Barack Obama in this year's White House World AIDS Day proclamation, which highlights the administration's recently updated National HIV/AIDS Strategy.

"[T]he primary aims of the Strategy include reducing HIV-related disparities and health inequities, because HIV still affects specific populations disproportionately across our country," the proclamation continues. "Certain individuals -- including gay and bisexual men, Black women and men, Latinos and Latinas, people who inject drugs, transgender women, young people, and people in the Southern United States -- are at greater risk for HIV, and we must target our efforts to reduce HIV-related health disparities and focus increased attention on highly vulnerable populations."

The White House will host an event on December 1 in keeping with the national World AIDS Day theme "The Time to Act is Now." The event, featuring a panel of local community-based HIV/AIDS organizations that have made progress against the epidemic, will be webcast live starting at 1pm ET.

"When the first cases of what would become known as AIDS were reported in 1981, scientists and physicians did not know the cause and had no therapies to treat those who were infected," Anthony Fauci, Carl Dieffenbach, and Francis Collins recalled in the National Institutes of Health's annual World AIDS Day statement. "Times have changed and today physicians can offer their patients highly effective medicines that work as both treatment and prevention. We can now speak credibly about having within our sights the end to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, when new HIV infections and deaths due to AIDS are rare."

The NIH highlighted its support of the SMART, HPTN 052, and START trials, which demonstrated that starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) promptly after HIV diagnosis both protects the health of people living with HIV and prevents transmission to others. The agency also emphasized the importance of research towards an effective HIV vaccine or cure, which would "accelerate a durable end to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic."

On the cure front, amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, announced on Monday the establishment of a new amfAR Institute for HIV Cure Research based at the University of California San Francisco, which has the ambitious goal of developing the scientific basis of a cure for HIV by the end of 2020.

"For those of us who saw the AIDS epidemic explode and who watched helplessly as thousands died, the opportunity to try to develop an HIV cure is truly amazing," said UCSF's Paul Volberding, who is director of the UCSF AIDS Research Instituteand will also direct the new institute. "This will bring together a broad team of leading scientists who believe a cure is possible, and that it will happen here. We’re ready to end this epidemic."

12/1/15

Sources

White House. World Aids Day, 2015 -- A Proclamation. November 30, 2015

S Fauci, C Dieffenbach, and FS Collins, National Institutes of Health. NIH Statement on World AIDS Day 2015: Follow the Science to Fast-Track the End of AIDS. December 1, 2015.

amfAR. amfAR Establishes San Francisco-Based Institute for HIV Cure Research. Press release. November 30, 2015.

UCSF. $20 Million Grant from amfAR Funds Institute for HIV Cure Research.Press release. November 30, 2015.