Progress and Promise in the Fight against HIV and AIDS

18 August 2006

Toronto (August 16, 2006)—Governments must deliver on the promises they have made to fund the fight against HIV and AIDS, CARE International USA's president Helene Gayle said this week.

Dr Gayle said: "It is critical to stay on track against HIV and AIDS. We have said over and over again that in many cases, we know what works to keep the virus from spreading, so it is not knowledge we lack to forge ahead, but political will. Governments can show this political will by delivering on the promises they have made to fund the fight against AIDS and by committing themselves to changing the things that make people vulnerable to HIV in the first place, such as poverty, stigma and gender inequity."

Dr Gayle, who is also president of the International AIDS Society and is co-chairing the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto this week, said: "We have made much progress against HIV and AIDS since the virus was first identified 25 years ago, and various new technologies offer promise in the fight against AIDS, but much more needs to be done."

Over the past two years, the number of women and girls infected with HIV has increased in every region of the world. In Africa, for example, almost 60 percent of new infections are in women. Women and girls are not only biologically more susceptible to HIV infection, they often don't have the power or the choice to protect themselves against the threat of infection.

Many women are victims of gender-based violence, which is closely linked to HIV infection and an inability to get treatment and care. For example, in Burundi, CARE found that approximately 15 percent of men admitted to committing rape at least once in their lives. A lack of economic security also increases women’s vulnerability to HIV as they may be forced to engage in sex to feed their families. Others fall prey to social customs and practices that place them at higher risk of HIV.

"There are many different ways to fight back against the virus in order to decrease women’s vulnerability," said Dr Gayle. "It is a matter of different tools: social tools as well as clinical ones. For example, in Kenya’s Siaya district, CARE is working to change a custom that forces widows to sleep with a member of their husband’s family."

There are various new drugs, treatments and techniques in clinical trials now, such as microbicides, Tenofivir and male circumcision, which show the potential to increase the odds against HIV.

"These are important options to have, but these must go hand in hand with social and behavioral change or we will be back exactly where we started," said Dr Gayle. "We must take a comprehensive approach to HIV and AIDS because there isn’t one single thing — drug, treatment, prevention method or behavior — that will work 100 percent of the time. That said, I do believe there is reason to be optimistic about the future. I am convinced that we can do better in the fight against HIV and AIDS, and we must."

NOTES
CARE fights poverty in more than 70 countries. Our first HIV and AIDS program began in 1987 and CARE now has more than 150 programs in approximately 40 countries, addressing the causes and consequences of HIV and AIDS. These programs reach more than seven million people. The CARE delegation at the conference includes nearly 70 staff from Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe and the United States with expertise in HIV and AIDS.