PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY FOR HEALTH
Reference Number: PR170237 , Press Release Issue Date: Feb 01, 2017
Fast-track the end of AIDS in the EU: practical evidence-based interventions—Maltese Presidency of the Council of the European Union Conference organised in collaboration with the ECDC
HIV remains a significant public health problem in the 31 countries of the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA), with around 30,000 newly diagnosed HIV infections reported each year over the last decade. In a two-day meeting held under the auspices of the Maltese EU Presidency, HIV experts from across the European Union will discuss how to reverse this trend and how to prepare Europe to achieve the set target of ending AIDS by 2030.[i]
Dr Masoud Dara, Coordinator for Communicable Diseases and Programme Manager – WHO Regional Office for Europe states that: “The new HIV action plan builds on accomplishments, and reformulates the public health response to HIV. It sets concrete actions for countries to achieve three ambitious 90–90–90 targets by 2020: 90% of people living with HIV know their HIV status; 90% of diagnosed people living with HIV receive treatment; 90% of people on treatment achieve viral suppression.”
Minister for Health Chris Fearne stated that, “This conference arose from excellent collaborative work with ECDC and Malta’s commitment and recognition of the importance of placing HIV higher up on the EU agenda during its Presidency term. We believe that concerted efforts must include all stakeholders, including governments, healthcare providers, civil society, people living with HIV, and the specialized agencies like WHO and ECDC. We believe that tackling HIV is a regional, national, corporate and individual responsibility. They all have a role to play in terms of political commitment, preventive action, universal access to healthcare, affordability and access to medicines, testing, linkage to care, focus on key populations, zero tolerance to stigma, and individual behavioural responsibility.”
He delineated various areas of action: “Scaling up of testing is essential to reach our first 90 target. We need to make better use of various settings to enhance testing, incorporate innovative approaches to testing, and reduce the barriers, especially in key populations. Knowledge of HIV status “in unaware persons” might also help reduce new HIV infections—those resulting negative may then take less risks, and if linked to care should achieve viral suppression, the third 90.”
“If we take a look at the available data, we can see that Europe needs to improve its HIV response in several areas”, said ECDC Acting Director Andrea Ammon. “Currently, two out of three EU/EEA countries tell us that they do not have sufficient funding for prevention interventions. And every one in seven people living with HIV in the region are not aware of their infection. To reduce the number of new HIV infections in Europe, we need to focus our efforts in three main areas: prioritising prevention programmes, facilitating the uptake of HIV testing, for example by introducing new approaches like community-based testing or self-testing to diagnose those infected. And, of course, easier access to treatment for those diagnosed.”
On the occasion of the Presidency meeting, ECDC published an overview of achievements and gaps in the European HIV response, illustrating how countries addressed the HIV epidemic in 2016, based on their commitment outlined in the Dublin Declaration on Partnership to Fight HIV/AIDS in Europe and Central Asia.
The results show, amongst others, that HIV treatment overall starts earlier across the EU/EEA and more people receive live-saving treatment. But one in six people in the EU/EEA diagnosed with HIV are still not on treatment. Those who are on treatment, however, show how effective current HIV treatment is: almost nine out of ten people living with HIV on treatment are virally suppressed. This means the virus can no longer be detected in their blood and they cannot transmit the virus to others.
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) contributed to this overview with data on the HIV situation and prevention coverage among people who inject drugs.
EMCDDA Director Alexis Goosdeel states: “People who inject drugs have the highest proportion of late diagnosis of HIV, compared to other transmission groups. Providing voluntary testing for infectious diseases, risk behaviour counselling and assistance to manage illness at drug treatment facilities is an important additional avenue to reach this group and is among the new EU minimum quality standards for demand reduction.”[ii]
The introduction and scaling up of effective drug treatment and harm-reduction measures, such as needle and syringe provision, have significantly reduced drug injecting and related HIV transmission in Europe. However, this overall positive development hides large variations between countries. Marginalisation of people who inject drugs, the lack of prevention coverage, and appearance of new drugs can trigger local HIV outbreaks, as documented in five EU countries in the recent past.[iii]
Yesterday’s meeting, “Fast-track the end of AIDS in the EU: practical evidence-based interventions”, has kickstarted a series of health-related meetings under the Malta EU Presidency of the Council. Through a series of expert and political meetings to be held both in Malta and at the European institutions, the Maltese Presidency aims to bring forward specific actions on its identified health priorities.
NOTES TO EDITORS
HIV/AIDS: The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus which attacks the immune system and causes a lifelong severe illness with a long incubation period. The end-stage of the untreated infection, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), results from the destruction of the immune system. AIDS is defined by the presence of one or more “opportunistic” illnesses (other illnesses due to decreased immunity).
The European Test Finder makes it easy to locate an HIV testing site in Europe: all that is needed is a post code or city name to find the nearest test centre. This year’s updated version also includes places for STI and hepatitis testing.
Results from the monitoring the Dublin Declaration on Partnership to Fight HIV/AIDS in Europe and Central Asia assist Member States in their HIV response.
ECDC RESOURCES
§ The status of the HIV response in the European Union/European Economic Area, 2016
§ ECDC-WHO/Europe report HIV/AIDS surveillance in Europe 2015
§ European Test Finder
§ World AIDS Day 2016
§ Dublin Declaration monitoring - 2014 progress
No comments:
Post a Comment