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.

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.

“It is decision time for La Francophonie,” Michel Sidibé, the Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), told a news conference in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the report was released at a summit meeting of the 56-member state International Organization of La Francophonie (IOF), a grouping of one of the biggest linguistic zones in the world.

“While out actions so far are laudable, they will not take us to the finish line. We must redouble our efforts for the AIDS response and act decisively,” Sidibé said, stressing that an additional $1.4 billion in international aid, a 160 per cent increase over current funding levels, will be needed annually by 2015 to fill the gap, together with a $120 million increase by the countries themselves.

“The international community must meet its commitments for Francophone Africa, and high-income Francophone countries must take the lead,” the UNAIDS chief added. “At the same time, low- and middle-income francophone countries must also increase their share of investments based on economic strength and disease burden.”

In 2011, an estimated 3.1 million people were living with HIV in low- and middle income IOF countries in sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for 10 per cent of the global total, according to the report, ‘Decision Point La Francophonie: No new HIV infections, no one denied treatment.’ HIV prevalence varies widely among member countries in sub-Saharan Africa, from less than 0.3 per cent to 5 per cent of the adult population.

An estimated 826,000 people in low- and middle-income IOF countries were receiving HIV treatment in 2011, up from just 26,000 in 2003, according to the report. Increased access to HIV treatment resulted in a nearly 30 per cent decline in AIDS-related deaths between 2004 and 2011.

But despite this commendable progress, an estimated 970,000 people are still waiting to access life-saving HIV treatment in IOF countries, accounting for 14 per cent of the global treatment gap.

Taken as a whole, IOF countries in sub-Saharan Africa achieved 43 per cent coverage of HIV treatment in 2011, compared to 59 per cent coverage in non-IOF countries in the region. Among IOF countries in the region, just one in five pregnant women living with HIV has access to antiretroviral therapy for her own health and only 15 per cent of children eligible for HIV treatment are receiving it.

Programmes to prevent new HIV infections among children are gaining momentum across sub-Saharan Africa, with an estimated 34 per cent decline in new HIV infections in IOF countries between 2005 and 2011 – from 73,000 to 48,000.

Despite this progress, however, an estimated 450,000 children are living with HIV in low- and middle-income IOF member states of sub-Saharan Africa, according to the report. Coverage of HIV medicines to prevent transmission from pregnant women to their children in these countries remains low, at 36 per cent compared to 62 per cent coverage among non-IOF countries in the region.

“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.