‘Treatment for All’ Must Prioritize Treatment for Children Living with HIV
Vancouver, B.C.—July 19, 2015 - As the HIV/AIDS community gathers for
the International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference in Vancouver, Canada,
the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF)
joins the Vancouver Consensus in calling
for universal treatment for all people living with HIV, regardless of CD4 count. Providing treatment
for everyone living with HIV will be a paradigm shift in HIV treatment and prevention efforts,
particularly for children living with HIV, and will save millions of lives.
While there has been progress and recognition of the need to prioritize specific,
targeted strategies for children living with HIV, only 32 percent of children living with HIV have
access to treatment. Without it, 80 percent of these children won't live to see their fifth
birthday. EGPAF is committed to ensuring that children living with HIV are prioritized
in order to shrink these gaps in pediatric treatment.
“It is vital that children are not lost in the crowd,” said Charles Lyons, EGPAF president
and CEO. “When children are considered only as part of the greater HIV population, they inevitably get
left behind. Time and time again we’ve seen that failing to focus on children living with HIV has
left the majority of them without the care and treatment they desperately need. Children
living with HIV require unique, intensive actions to identify them and ensure they have
access to and remain on treatment. We must acknowledge these differences and
incorporate the specific needs of children in global guidelines and targets.
Otherwise, we may end up moving backward when we desperately need forward
momentum to drive us toward an AIDS-free generation.”
The Vancouver Consensus cites new research, such as
the START study, which proves that early identification and initiation of HIV treatment leads to
the best health outcomes. Identifying, testing, and treating all of the 37 million people currently
living with HIV, and those who will become infected in the years to come requires meticulous
planning and resources, particularly for the 2.6 million children who are living with the virus.
“It's easy to look at the numbers and say ‘how are we going to afford to do this?' The
better question is: how can we afford not to?” said Lyons. “The challenge is enormous, but it always
has been: HIV/AIDS is the definitive global health challenge of our lifetime. The true, human
cost of this epidemic is measured in lives, not dollars. This epidemic has claimed more than
36 million lives since its beginning, and we have to commit ourselves to fight for every
life it still threatens to take. If we are to end AIDS by 2030, universal
testing and treatment for all people living with HIV has to become a reality.”
Also today, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched new guidelines for HIV testing services. The guidelines call
for a dramatic increase in access to HIV testing. This scale-up in testing is crucial considering
only half of people living with HIV know their status and therefore cannot be linked into
treatment. New and targeted testing services are especially important for children
living with HIV, who have unique and specific needs.
WHO is expected to release comprehensive HIV treatment guidelines in December 2015.
The guidelines will likely recommend that all people living with HIV, regardless of CD4 count,
initiate treatment immediately upon diagnosis.
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About the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF):
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is the global leader in the fight against pediatric HIV/ AIDS and has reached nearly 22 million women with services to prevent transmission of HIV to their babies. It currently supports more than 7,700 health facilities and works in 15 countries to implement prevention, care, and treatment services; to further advance innovative research; and to execute global advocacy activities that bring dramatic change to the lives of millions of women, children, and families worldwide. For more information, visit www.pedaids.org.
Contact:
Johanna Harvey: jharvey@pedaids.org or +1 (336) 202-0324
Ryan Henson: rhenson@pedaids.org or +1 (202) 280-1537
SOURCE: ELIZABETH GLASER PEDIATRICS AIDS FOUNDATION
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