December 1st marks the 35th World AIDS Day.
This year is the 20th Anniversary of the launch of PEPFAR: The United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
Ambassador-at-Large John Nkengasong [En-Keng-a-song] is U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Senior Bureau Official for Health Security and Diplomacy at the U.S. Department of State.
He said that when PEPFAR was created, “the life expectancy in many countries in Africa had dropped significantly. Some countries were heading toward extinction.”
“It was, in my view, a greatest act of solidarity and expression of values that the American people launched to save a whole continent that was going through and facing tremendous challenges there,” said Ambassador Nkengasong.
The theme of this year's World AIDS Day is “Remember and Commit”.
“Because of the success that PEPFAR and other programs the Global Fund have achieved, people are beginning to not remember how it used to look like,” said Ambassador Nkengasong. “Whether you're seeing a baby in Botswana that is born free of HIV infection or an HIV infected woman who has benefited from treatment and is living a normal life and have now children born free of HIV. That is remarkable. That is the story that must be told.”
However, the gains made in treating people infected with HIV/AIDS are fragile. If a patient stops receiving treatment the virus returns in just five weeks.
“So that is why it is so important to maintain a political engagement, political leadership in maintaining the HIV programs so that we can bring HIV AIDS to an end by the year 2030 as a public health threat,” said Ambassador Nkengasong.
By prioritizing accessible healthcare, prevention efforts, research and innovation, the U.S. aims to work with partners to meet UNAIDS' 95-95-95 goal.
The goal calls for 95 percent of those living with HIV to know their status, 95 percent of those who know their status to be on treatment, and 95 percent of those on treatment to be virally suppressed.
“The U.S. government has been globally recognized in the fight against HIV,” noted Ambassador Nkengasong. “It’s one of those areas in our leadership in global health that is known globally, and I think we cannot relent from that.”
