Paris: Thousands of experts and activists descend on Amsterdam on Monday to bolster the battle against Aids amid warnings that “dangerous complacency” may cause a resurgence of the epidemic that has already killed 35 million people.
Rather than closing in on the goal of “ending” Aids, new HIV infections have surged in parts of the world as global attention has dwindled and funding levelled off, say leaders of the anti-Aids movement.
And they lament that too fine a focus on virus-suppressing treatment has overshadowed basic prevention with the result that HIV is still spreading with ease among the most vulnerable people.
“The encouraging reductions in new HIV infections that occurred for about a decade has emboldened some to declare that we are within reach of ending Aids,” said Peter Piot, a veteran virus researcher and founder of the Unaids agency.
However, “there is absolutely no evidence to support this conclusion,” he insisted, and warned: “the language on ending Aids has bred a dangerous complacency.”
This was evident from declining global and domestic funding for HIV eradication and treatment programmes, Piot said at the launch this week of a report by the International Aids Society (IAS) and The Lancet medical journal.
The authors of that report, he said, “are extremely concerned that there is a real risk that the world will declare victory long before our fight against Aids is over.”
Rubbing shoulders with celebrity activists such as Britain’s Prince Harry, actress Charlize Theron, and singers Elton John and Conchita, more than 15,000 delegates are expected in the Dutch capital for the conference, opening on Monday.
