HIV treatment is very vital in the HIV response, prevention of illness and death, averting new infections and saving money.
Stigma and discrimination are major obstacles leading to reduced treatment-seeking behavior and effective HIV/AIDS prevention and care.
It is widely agreed that to achieve an undetectable viral load and prevent the development of drug resistance, a person on ARV drugs needs to take at least 95% of the prescribed doses on time.
In 2016, 30% of people living with HIV received treatment. Amongst children this is even lower, with just 21% on ART, only 24% had achieved viral suppression the same year.
As hope for ending the AIDS epidemic depends in large measure on concerted effort, ability to provide HIV treatment to all who need it, in a rights-based approach, final targets for universal treatment
access are critical.
While taking action to maximize the prevention effects of HIV treatment, urgent efforts are similarly needed to scale up core prevention strategies, including elimination of mother to child transmission and pre-exposure antiretroviral prophylaxis.
