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.

“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.