Washington, DC, USA (October 25, 2018) – In an editorial published today in the Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (JIAPAC), Dr. José M. Zuniga, President/CEO of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC), called for “a renewed commitment to the scaling up of HIV treatment services to attain the 90-90-90 targets by 2020 (or 2025) must be matched by a similar commitment to expanded access to primary HIV prevention within the context of a world that is liberated of HIV-related stigma and discrimination."

Entitled “UNAIDS 90-90-90 – Opportunity in Every Difficulty,” the editorial responds to criticisms about 90-90-90 that Dr. Zuniga believes permeated the recent AIDS 2018 conference held in Amsterdam, Netherlands. While acknowledging that the 90-90-90 targets may not be met by the 2020 deadline set by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the editorial lays out a rationale for accelerating the pace of progress rather than abandoning a set of successful programmatic targets.

“Framed within the context of our indisputable successes with HIV treatment as prevention, the power of the Undetectable=Untransmittable message,1 the PARTNER 2 confirmation that zero transmissions equal zero risk,2 and new evidence that on-demand pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is highly effective in men who have sex with men,3,4 our pace must quicken not wane,” Dr. Zuniga writes in the editorial. “With no vaccine or cure available in short order (though we should continue to invest in their discovery), there is one viable option: speed up efforts to attain 90-90-90 everywhere and across all populations and age bands, including by eliminating structural and other barriers, while refining and expanding our approaches.”

 

Click here to access the JIAPAC editorial, “UNAIDS 90-90-90 – Opportunity in Every Difficulty.”

 

References

  1. The Lancet HIV. U=U taking off in 2017. Lancet. 2017;4(11):PE475.
  2. Rodger, A, Cambiano, V, Bruun, P. for the PARTNER Study Group. Risk of HIV transmission through condomless sex in MSM couples with suppressive ART: The PARTNER2 Study Extended Results in Gay Men. Paper presented at: 22nd International AIDS Conference, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, July 23-27, 2018. Abstract WEAX0104LB.
  3. Molina, JM, Ghosn, J, Beniguel, L. Incidence of HIV infection in the ANRS Prevenir study in Paris region with daily or on-demand PrEP with TDF/FTC. Paper presented at: 22nd International AIDS Conference, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, July 23-27, 2018. Abstract WEAE0406LB.
  4. Vuylsteke, B. Daily or event-driven PrEP? Interim results of “Be-PrEP-ared”, a PrEP demonstration project among men who have sex with men in Belgium. Paper presented at: 22nd International AIDS Conference, Amsterdam, Netherlands, July 23-27, 2018. Abstract THPEC320.