To sustain the responses to HIV

Also available in: Español

The III Regional Forum of Latin America and the Caribbean took place in Port-au-Prince, from November 6 to 8, focusing on the sustainability of the responses to HIV.

By: Javier Hourcade Bellocq

This is the third edition of the Forum. The first one, held in Mexico City, in 2014, focused on the Treatment Continuum and the 90-90-90 Target; whereas, in the second edition, held in Rio de Janeiro, the priorities were Combined Prevention and Zero Discrimination. On this occasion, the Caribbean region had a greater participation but, in general, the public was made up of representatives from regional governments, civil society and international cooperation agencies.

The main objective of this meeting was to provide a floor for debate and generate consensus on regional priorities and strategies to support the rapid expansion of a sustainable response to HIV that at the same time is efficient, effective, integrated and intersectoral in order to achieve the objectives of the Accelerated Action in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).

With more than 2 million people living with HIV in LAC, the number of deaths related to AIDS has diminished due to the sustained increase of people under antiretroviral treatment, which accounts to 56% of people with HIV. Currently, 46% of people with HIV has managed to reduce viral load, a figure well below the 72% target. Progress has been made in increasing the number of people with HIV aware of their HIV status, which is around 80%. However, since 2010, a stagnation in the number of new infections, of around 120,000 each year, is observed with concern, and the percentage of people with late diagnosis continues to be high (30%), and very distant from the target of 10% or less set for 2020.

The most significant result of the Forum was the consensus of a call to action approved by the Plenary on the last day. This document was addressed to our governments, donor governments, UN system agencies and civil society. The political declaration will soon be available for publication and circulation in the region.

At the conclusion of the Forum, two parallel meetings were held: the first one, together with the Global Fund Secretariat to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, aimed at discussing the future of regional proposals, and; second, the meeting of Grupo de Cooperación Técnica Horizontal (GCTH, the Horizontal Technical Cooperation Group on HIV/AIDS), whose main point was the election of their new president. Doctor Sergio Maulen, Director of the HIV, STI, Hepatitis, TB and Leprosy program of the Ministry of Health of Argentina, was elected by the present members (in a vote with quorum). This was a key moment, as it is urgent to reconstruct the GCTH in a context of transition and sustainability.

It was important that the meeting took place in the country most affected by the epidemics: Haiti. However, there was no opportunity to visit some of the programs and organizations providing services to people with HIV and key populations in that country. Despite the limited resources, this meeting was possible and allowed to outline an agenda for the coming years.

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