In a recently released report, UNAIDs has indicated that the Caribbean region could attain testing and treatment targets putting it on course to end its AIDS epidemic.
This goal can be achieved, UNAID said, if the region increases its response to the disease.
According to the report, Ending AIDS: progress towards the 90-90-90 targets, in order to speed up progress the region must ensure more people living with HIV are diagnosed and that there are higher levels of viral suppression among those on treatment.
“The region has achieved remarkable progress in expanding HIV services,” said UNAIDS Regional Support Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Dr. Cesar Nunez, “We need to continue work to ensure that we leave no one behind.”
Targets
The report gives a detailed analysis of progress and challenges toward achieving the benchmarks set to help the world achieve the Sustainable Development Goal target of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030. The targets are set for 90 percent of all people living with HIV to know their status; 90 percent of diagnosed people are targeted to access sustained antiretroviral treatment; and 90 percent of all people accessing treatment to achieve viral suppression by 2020.
Caribbean on track to reach treatment targets
The report said the Caribbean has achieved strong progress related to getting people living with HIV on treatment and reducing deaths due to AIDS, but pointed to gaps that remain.
In the region four of five people living with HIV who know their status are accessing antiretroviral therapy. This means the region as a whole is doing a fairly good job at starting people on treatment following diagnosis. Haiti is the only country in the region to achieve the second target of at least 90 percent of diagnosed people on treatment.
52 percent decline
HIV treatment coverage has contributed to a 52 percent decline in AIDS-related deaths in the Caribbean over the last decade, while some 52 percent of people living with HIV in the region are on antiretroviral therapy. However the region is lagging behind on HIV testing and viral suppression, the report stated.
