The framework, entitled Treatment 2015, offers countries and partners practical and innovative ways to increase the number of people accessing antiretroviral medicines that will enable those living with HIV to live longer and healthier lives, as well as help prevent new infections.

“Reaching the 2015 target will be a critical milestone,” said Michel Sidibé, the Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). “Countries and partners need to urgently and strategically invest resources and efforts to ensure that everyone has access to HIV prevention and treatment services.”

Treatment 2015 takes into account the new consolidated guidelines on the use of antiretroviral drugs for treating and preventing HIV infection released last month by the World Health Organization (WHO), which recommend that people living with HIV start antiretroviral therapy (ART) much earlier.

“The scale up of ART is an unprecedented global success story for public health,” said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan. “Maintaining this momentum will require earlier treatment and innovative ways for enabling more people to take the medicine such as the one-pill daily regimen recommended by the new WHO guidelines.”

According to UNAIDS, nearly 10 million people living with HIV were accessing antiretroviral treatment last year, and the target to reach 15 million is a push to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) that seeks to have halted and begun the spread of HIV/AIDS by the 2015 deadline.

However, the report notes that 30 countries account for 9 out of 10 people who are eligible for antiretroviral therapy but who do not have access.

The new strategy emphasizes the importance of HIV testing and counselling as a gateway to expand access to antiretroviral therapy in these 30 countries, and outlines three pillars essential to reaching the 2015 target which consist of: increasing demand for HIV testing and treatment services; mobilizing resources and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of spending, and ensuring more people have access to antiretroviral therapy.

In addition, the framework highlights that community testing campaigns have proven to be particularly effective in countries like Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia.

“Community health workers have the capacity to provide almost 40 per cent of HIV service-related tasks,” UNAIDS said in a news release, adding that HIV testing and treatment services need to be decentralized to promote easier access, and underserved populations need to be targeted to receive access to this life-saving treatment.

In a joint news release, the Director-General of the World Health Organizations (WHO), Margaret Chan, and the Executive Director of the Global Fund, Mark Dybul, said significant funds need to be mobilized to prevent the spread of multi-drug resistant TB, also known as MDR-TB.

“We are treading water at a time when we desperately need to scale up our response to MDR-TB,” said Dr. Chan. “We have gained a lot of ground in TB control through international collaboration, but it can easily be lost if we do not act now.”

In 2011, 1.4 million people died due to TB, with the greatest per capita death rate in Africa. MDR-TB presents a major threat, with an estimated 630,000 people ill worldwide with this form of TB today.

WHO and the Global Fund said the $1.6 billion is needed to fill the funding gap in 118 low- and middle-income countries, the majority of which are located in Africa. These funds could enable full treatment for 17 million TB and MDR-TB patients, and save some 6 million lives in the next three years.

“It is critical that we raise the funding that is urgently needed to control this disease,” said Dr. Dybul. “If we don’t act now, our costs could skyrocket. It is invest now or pay forever.”

The call for an increase in funds for TB comes ahead of World TB Day on 24 March, which commemorates the day when Robert Koch discovered the mycobacterium that causes tuberculosis in 1882. The Day seeks to raise awareness about the global epidemic and efforts to eliminate the disease.

In addition to the $1.6 billion annual gap in international financing, WHO and partners estimate that there is a $1.3 billion annual gap for TB research and development for the 2014-2016 period, including clinical trials for new TB drugs, diagnostics and vaccines.

“This news gives us great hope that a cure for HIV in children is possible and could bring us one step closer to an AIDS-free generation,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé. “This also underscores the need for research and innovation especially in the area of early diagnostics.”

According to researchers, the mother was living with HIV at the time of the baby’s birth and had not received antiretroviral medication or prenatal care. The child was born prematurely in July 2010 in the state of Mississippi and due to the high risk of exposure to HIV, received a triple therapy regimen of antiretroviral drugs 30 hours after her birth and continued treatment until she was 18 months of age.

When the child, now two and a half years old, was seen by professionals about half a year later, blood samples revealed undetectable HIV levels and no HIV-specific antibodies.

If the findings are confirmed, it would be the first well-documented case of an HIV-positive child who appears to have no detectable levels of the virus despite stopping HIV treatment.

While the toddler continues to thrive without antiretroviral therapy, UNAIDS cautioned that more studies need to be conducted to understand the outcomes and whether the current findings can be replicated.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 330,000 children were newly infected with HIV in 2011 and at the end of the year, only 28 per cent of children under the age of 15 living with HIV were on HIV treatment, compared to 54 per cent of eligible adults.

Data also shows that just 28 per cent of HIV-exposed babies were tested for this disease within six weeks of birth in 2010 due to the high costs of early diagnostics and limited access to services and medicines.

In 2011, UNAIDS and its partners launched a global plan for the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive. Significant progress has been made and continued support and research is needed, the agency said in a news release.

The 1st of December was the World AIDS Day, and the United Nations officials marked it with a call for building on recent successes and pressing ahead to get to zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths by 2015.

“On this World AIDS Day, let us commit to build on and amplify the encouraging successes of recent years to consign HIV/AIDS to the pages of history,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message for the Day.

The World AIDS Day Report for 2012, he noted, reveals significant progress in preventing and treating HIV/AIDS in the past two years. The number of people accessing life-saving treatment rose by 60 per cent and new infections have fallen by half in 25 countries. In addition, AIDS-related deaths have dropped by a quarter since 2005, according to the report, published by the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

“We have moved from despair to hope. Far fewer people are dying from AIDS,” said the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé. “Twenty-five countries have reduced new infections by more than 50 per cent. I want these results in every country.

“The pace of progress is quickening. It is unprecedented. What used to take a decade is now being achieved in just 24 months. Now that we know rapid and massive scale up of HIV programmes is possible, we need to do more,” he said in his message for the Day. However, as of December 2011, even if over 100,000 more children were receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART) compared to 2010,  less than one-third of children and pregnant women were receiving the treatment they needed, as opposed to the global average of 54 per cent for adults overall.

“We must do still more to help mothers and children who live with HIV be able to live free from AIDS. We must rededicate ourselves to boosting the number of pregnant women and children being tested and treated through basic antenatal and child health programmes,” said UNICEF’s Executive Director, Anthony Lake.

Good nutrition is vital for the health and survival of all people, but it is particularly important for people with HIV and AIDS, the Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Ertharin Cousin, said in her message marking the Day.

The Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, noted that progress must strengthen the determination to create a world free of AIDS: “HIV and AIDS can be conquered through renewed commitment and sustained solidarity. For this, we need to use every resource as best we can and draw on all available evidence,” she said.

The agency works for the ‘triple zero’ goal by supporting countries to improve HIV and age-appropriate sexuality education for young people, as well as tackling gender inequalities since women and girls are severely affected by HIV and bear the greatest burden of care.

UNAIDS said it has harnessed the energy and creativity of youth and the fashion world in support of the global HIV response, with 11 young designers having joined together to create an exclusive collection of tops and t-shirts for Italian fashion retailer OVS.

Among those participating in the initiative – part of the “Make Love With” campaign, launched by OVS in partnership with UNAIDS – are Lavinia Biagiotti, Rachele Cavalli, Louis Marie de Castelbajac, Maria Sole Ferragamo, Marta Ferri, Alessandra Gucci, Alice Lemoine, Talitha Puri Negri, Lola Toscani, Rocco Toscani and Francesca Versace.

“This conference will stand as a historic milestone on our journey to end this epidemic,” the Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Michel Sidibé, said as the conference opened in Washington, D.C. yesterday. “We are entering a new era in the AIDS response.”

Delegates will spend the next few days participating in a series of discussions focusing on mobilizing governments and communities to achieve the vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.

In his remarks, Sidibé highlighted the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in getting to zero. “For the first time, we have more people on treatment than people who need treatment. We have broken the trajectory on new infections, with a worldwide decline of 20 per cent since 2001, and mortality is also declining,” he said.

“Yet, in these times of unprecedented political, financial, economic and social crisis, I am scared for the future of global solidarity,” he added. “From many places in the developed world I am hearing, ‘We cannot afford to keep our promises. We have our own problems at home.’ My response is simple: We know how to get to zero. All that can stop us now is indecision and lack of courage.”

The Conference’s theme, ‘Turning the tide together,’ reflects what is considered to be a unique moment in the history of the HIV epidemic, according to a news release issued by UNAIDS.

It is believed that by acting decisively on recent scientific advances in HIV treatment and biomedical prevention, building momentum for an HIV cure, and harnessing the evidence of the ability to scale-up key interventions in the most-needed settings, an end to the epidemic is now within reach.

“This week you can help to turn the tide. Let us start the end of AIDS – now,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a video message to conference.

Ban recalled that one year ago, the UN General Assembly set ambitious targets for 2015: to cut new infections by half; to expand treatment to 15 million people; and to ensure that no child is born with HIV. “We can achieve these targets if we refocus, re-energize our mission and invest more resources,” said the Secretary-General.

The report, entitled ‘Together we will end AIDS,’ states that low- and middle-income countries invested $8.6 billion for the HIV/AIDS response in 2011, an increase of 11 per cent over 2010. International funding, meanwhile, remained flat at 2008 levels – $8.2 billion.

“This is an era of global solidarity and mutual accountability,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), which produced the report.

“Countries most affected by the epidemic are taking ownership and demonstrating leadership in responding to HIV. However, it is not enough for international assistance to remain stable – it has to increase if we are to meet the 2015 goals,” he added.

Halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV and AIDS, as well as achieving universal access to treatment for the disease, are among the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) world leaders have pledged to achieve by 2015.

According to the report, 81 countries increased their domestic investments for AIDS by more than 50 per cent between 2006 and 2011. As economies in low- and middle-income countries grow, domestic public investments for AIDS have also grown.

Domestic public spending in sub-Saharan Africa, not including South Africa, increased by 97 per cent over the last five years. South Africa already spends more than 80 per cent from domestic sources and has quadrupled its domestic investments between 2006 and 2011.

BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) increased domestic public spending on HIV by more than 120 per cent between 2006 and 2011. BRICS countries now fund, on average, more than 75 per cent of their domestic AIDS responses, according to the report.

It adds that HIV funding from the international community, on the other hand, has largely been stable between 2008 and 2011, at $8.2 billion. Funding from the United States accounts for nearly 48 per cent of all international assistance for AIDS.

The report gives new data showing that an estimated 34.2 million people were living with HIV in 2011.

In 2010, UNAIDS reported that at least 56 countries had either stabilized or achieved significant declines in rates of new HIV infections. This trend has been maintained and new HIV infections have fallen by nearly 20 per cent in the last 10 years worldwide. New data shows that 2.5 million people were newly infected with HIV, 100,000 fewer than the 2.6 million new infections in 2010.

Also, some 4.9 million young people were living with HIV, 75 per cent of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Globally, young women between 15 and 24 years of age remain the most vulnerable to HIV, and an estimated 1.2 million women and girls were newly infected with HIV in 2011.

The report also outlines the significant progress that has been made in reducing new HIV infections in children. Since 2009, new infections in children have fallen by an estimated 24 per cent. Some 330 000 children were newly infected in 2011, almost half than at the peak of the epidemic in 2003 (570,000).

Sustaining the AIDS response will require strong country ownership and global solidarity, stresses the report. It also emphasises the need for investments to be sustainable and predictable and that countries must be able to mobilize and use resources effectively and efficiently.

“Every dollar spent on AIDS is an investment, not an expenditure,” said Sidibé. “We need to focus not only on achieving the 2015 targets but we need to look beyond and keep our sights set firmly on realizing our vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.”

Starting on Sunday, in Washington D.C., the 19th International AIDS Conference is expected to bring together leading scientists, public health experts, policy-makers and the HIV-affected community to translate recent scientific advances into action within the current context of global economic challenges.

“Together we must act strategically and effectively to achieve the vision of a world with zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths,” the General Assembly President, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, said in remarks to an Assembly meeting held to review progress following last year’s high-level meeting on HIV and AIDS.

In the remarks, delivered by Acting President and Ambassador of Benin Jean-Francis Zinsou, Mr. Al-Nasser said that the world is “riding a wave of renewed hope and accelerating progress against HIV.”

There have been dramatic reductions in new infections in the hardest-hit countries, and among young people worldwide, as well as a scaling up of treatments in low- and middle-income countries in the past decade, he noted. “Yet, critical challenges remain,” the President added, stating that HIV still disproportionately affects vulnerable populations, and funding is in decline, threatening the ability of the world community to sustain necessary progress. “We must ensure that the commitments that were made are implemented, so that we can re-direct the course of the epidemic, and avert future costs to society,” he said.

At last year’s high-level meeting, Member States adopted a political declaration committing themselves to ambitious new targets to combat HIV/ AIDS, with the aim of ridding the world of a disease that has claimed more than 30 million lives since the virus was first identified three decades ago.

Member States pledged to deliver antiretroviral therapy to 15 million people living with HIV; work towards eliminating new infections in children and substantially reducing maternal AIDS-related deaths; reduce by 50 per cent new infections from sexual transmission and among people who inject drugs; substantially increase HIV funding, with the goal of mobilizing $22 billion to $24 billion annually; meet the needs of women and girls; and eliminate stigma and discrimination.

“Today the international community has cause for hope and optimism in the response,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote in his first report on the issues arising from that session – and issued in April this year – while also highlighting the many challenges that remain.

Substantial access gaps persist for key services, with especially difficult obstacles experienced by populations at higher risk, he noted. Punitive laws, gender inequality, violence against women and other human rights violations continue to undermine national responses. Of special concern is the first-ever decline in HIV funding in 2010, potentially jeopardizing the capacity of the international community to close access gaps and sustain progress in the coming years.

“Efforts must be refocused to achieve real results and end a global epidemic of historic proportions,” he wrote. “The response must be smarter and more strategic, streamlined, efficient and grounded in human rights.”

In his remarks to the Assembly meeting today, Mr. Ban emphasized the need to do more “to win the race,” stressing the need to cut the number of new HIV infections by one million by 2015, reach out to people at risk, focus on the special needs of women and children, combat discrimination, and strengthen funding for critical efforts.

“Last year marked the thirtieth anniversary of struggle against AIDS – but we were not looking back; we were looking to a future where all people get the prevention and treatment services they need,” he told Member States.

During the first UN Human Rights Council panel on HIV, High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay underlined that although there has been much progress since HIV was first discovered 31 years ago, there is still much to be done to ensure that no human rights violations are committed which make individuals more vulnerable to the disease.

“HIV has taught us a lot about how the neglect of human rights increases vulnerability,” Pillay said. “The lack of respect for human rights has not only fuelled the epidemic, it has brought to the surface pernicious and persistent forms of discrimination and marginalization, in multiple and overlapping manifestations.” Pillay emphasized that protecting human rights is a central element to effectively combat the epidemic as ending discrimination against vulnerable populations will lead to a more inclusive approach when implementing and monitoring HIV policies and programmes.

“Sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender persons, people who use drugs, prisoners and persons in detention, migrants, refugees, persons who live in poverty, people with disabilities, orphans, young women and girls must not only be included in national responses to HIV, they must also be involved in the policy options and choices that affect them,” Pillay said. “It is no coincidence that these populations are the most vulnerable to the epidemic – they not only bear the burden of the disease, they also endure a broad range of human rights violations,” she added.

Pillay underscored that a human rights approach to HIV also needs to address a wide range of abuses which may increase vulnerability to the disease such as violence against women and girls, in addition to ensuring that current laws and practices do not discriminate against people living with HIV. She also called on countries to increase their funding for AIDS response so citizens can have access to affordable lifesaving treatment. “Funding the AIDS response is not only necessary; it is also a human rights legal obligation. We should not permit the current economic crisis to translate into a reversal in the gains made so far,” she said.