International AIDS Conference | Upstream

The 19th International AIDS Conference concluded this week. The conference theme was ?Turning the Tide Together.? This theme was meant to signal the technological improvements we?ve made in solving the AIDS epidemic and the collaboration that will be necessary to continue to make progress. The conference?s website notes that this means collaboration between governments, NGOs, policy makers, scientists, civil society organizations, journalists, and individuals living with HIV and AIDS.

Despite improved treatment, a big roadblock in fighting the epidemic is getting this treatment to infected individuals. In an article in USA Today, it?s reported that only one in four Americans with HIV are getting proper treatment, and the rest are either not getting any treatment or getting inconsistent treatment, or they don?t know they?re infected. Additionally, AIDS disproportionally affects minorities ? gays and African-Americans. These facts make AIDS more than just a medical problem ? it?s a social problem. For these reasons, the International AIDS Conference continues to meet each year to discuss ways to get treatment to those who aren?t getting it, and how to stop the spread of AIDS in minority populations.

Not surprisingly, this year?s conference concluded that getting treatment to the infected is key to solving the epidemic, as a vaccine and cure are years away. Some takeaways from the conference include:

- More HIV testing
- Possibly using another form of protection, such as giving at-risk healthy people the daily AIDS medicine Truvada to lower their risk of infection.
- Overcoming stigma that is stopping the HIV prevention message from reaching at-risk groups
- Promoting women-controlled preventions for when boyfriends and husbands won?t use condoms
- More research for a cure and vaccine
- Lowered cost for currently available medicine

We?ve come far in improving HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, but we still have more left to accomplish in solving the epidemic. It is important to remember that this is a multifaceted problem for which an interdisciplinary approach will be needed to solve. It is as much social and political as it is medical, which is something that the International AIDS Conference emphasizes. The Conference highlights the need for good health communication in decreasing stigma and in reaching at-risk populations to help them adopt behavior that prevents and stops the spread of HIV.

Source: http://upstreamdownstream.org/2012/07/international-aids-conference/

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