HIV Prevention
WHO report on progress toward universal HIV treatment shows mixed success
1.2 million more people had access to HIV treatment in 2009 than in 2008. That's the biggest single-year increase ever recorded, according to the WHO's new report "Towards universal access: Scaling up priority HIV/AIDS interventions in the health sector" available here http://www.who.int/hiv/pub/2010progressreport/report/en/index.html.
Among the most common challenges in the 144 low- and middle-income countries included were finances, insufficient human resources and other health system bottlenecks, such as weak procurement and supply management.
The original goal of universal access to HIV prevention and treatment by 2010 won't be met, but some countries are ahead of their scheduled targets, such as Rwanda, Botswana, Cuba, Cambodia and Croatia.
So what is different in these countries than others? I don't know that much about Cuba, Cambodia and Croatia, but in Botswana, ACHAP -- a partnership between Merck, the Gates Foundation and Government of Botswana was one of the earliest countries to prioritize treatment. It also is a middle-income country to begin with and received significant donor financial support and technical assistance.
Rwanda is not a middle-income country, but it too has received significant donor support and technical assistance, but there the government has worked hard to align the outsiders under its own strategy.
What other lessons can we learn from these country successes? And more specifically, how can we apply them even as international financing for HIV treatment declines?
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