November 30, 2014
UNAIDS recently released Fast Track: Ending the AIDS Epidemic by 2030, its report for World AIDS Day (December 1, 2014). Coming nearly two weeks early, the launch was, itself, fast-tracked—and there’s plenty of “we can’t wait” urgency within the pages of the report, starting with the first page (that does more, typographically, with red ribbons than you might believe is possible). It reads:
“We have bent the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic. Now we have five years to break the epidemic or we risk the epidemic springing back even stronger.”
This is on target and a message to convey urgently and with clarity. UNAIDS has its work cut out as an agency that can provide leadership, mobilize resources and push for the shift to community-based service delivery that emerges as one of the core recommendations in the report.
In broad strokes, it’s the right message, with the right vision, at the right time.
But an effective response depends on strategy, details, milestones, resources and specifics—and these are still lacking. This is to be expected, as the UNAIDS Prevention and Non-Discrimination Targets are still in draft form.
The Fast Track World AIDS Day report is clear on what needs to happen to achieve the “90-90-90” goal that calls for 90 percent of people living with HIV to know their status, 90 percent of those to be on antiretroviral therapy (ART) and 90 percent of those to be virologically suppressed by 2020.
It also suggests the components of prevention programming that should also come on line—listing, in various places, male and female condoms, voluntary medical male circumcision, oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for sex workers, men who have sex with men, serodiscordant couples and adolescents, as well as cash transfers for young girls, harm reduction, structural interventions, mass media and behavior change. These prevention elements appear in different subsets throughout the document, leaving some confusion about what, exactly, is essential.
Everything that the UNAIDS report lists is important. But the details of what goes where—which packages, in which places—and what specific terms mean are missing. Cash transfers, for example, can be delivered in a range of ways, with different objectives and different outcomes.
There are also some elements that receive considerably less emphasis. Research and development of more potent ARVs for treatment and prevention, new prevention options for women and other key populations, vaccine and cure strategies, are fundamental to long-term success in “breaking the epidemic”. Within the five-year timeframe set by UNAIDS, there are short-term milestones to set and achieve in each of these areas, even though the ultimate goals may not be reached for many years.
The good news is that this is a solvable problem. We as advocates and activists must use our impatience and collective wisdom to fast-track a process to ensure that clear targets, resources and messages are developed with the same strategy, rigor and urgency as 90-90-90.
AVAC is working with many of our partners to inform this process. This new report adds urgency to this task and clarity to the questions we need to address. As the report stresses, we must all “hold one another accountable for results and make sure no one is left behind.”
In the coming days, AVAC will release “Prevention on the Line”—a briefing paper with core recommendations for effective target-setting across the research-to-rollout continuum. This will summarize core messages and analysis that will be expanded in AVAC Report 2014/15. To receive the Report and other updates in your inbox, please join our Advocates’ Network. Stay tuned—and stay in touch.