World AIDS Day Commemorated in Armenia
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Armenia office in partnership with the Government of Armenia commemorates the World AIDS Day under the theme “Universal Access and Human Rights”.
That means countering any form of HIV-related stigma and discrimination. It means ensuring access to HIV information and services for those most in need. It means removing punitive laws that prevent IDUs, SW, MSM and other marginalized population to access HIV prevention services, eliminating laws that discriminate and criminalize based on HIV status. It means addressing violence against women and girls.
Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS said “On this WAD we are filled with both hope and concern. Hope because significant progress has been made towards universal access. New HIVinfections have dropped. Fewer children are born with HIV. And more than 4 million people are on treatment. Concern because 28 years into the epidemic the virus continues to make inroads into new populations; stigma and discrimination continue to undermine efforts to turn back the epidemic.”
“I am pleased that under the leadership of Armenian Government and Armenian Civil Society and with joint efforts and support from many other partners and UN organizations in Armenia, Armenia has managed to make a real progress in keeping the numerous Government commitments towards achieving the targets set in 2001 UNGASS declaration of Commitment, 2006 Universal Access General Assembly Political Declaration and MDG, namely:
• External resources in support of National AIDS response were mobilized from the GFATM at the amount of around 19 million euro for the period 2009-2015
• AIDS Law was amended and endorsed in 2009 eliminating mandatory testing (with exception of blood and organ donors)
• Methadone therapy has been registered in the country and a center for provision of methadone substitution treatment started operating at the national Narcological centre in October 2009
• Free-of-charge HIV treatment is provided to all people in need. Six anti-retroviral drugs are included into the list of essential drugs to be freely available to persons affected by the disease.
• The coverage of harm reduction interventions for IDUs is maintained at 60%, the coverage of SWs by HIV prevention interventions has increased from 25.1% in 2006 to 57% in 2008.
• All HIV infected pregnant women receive a complete course of ARV prophylaxis
• HIV/TB co infection is now in focus: around 50% of TB patients are referred for HIV testing
Although all these achievements we still have clear challenges in front of us:
• The National HIV Program implementation dependence on the external funding puts at risk sustainable implementation of HIV prevention and treatment activities, since ART is mainly covered by the Global Fund resources
• Stigma and discrimination towards people living with HIV, affected people, most at-risk populations remain the main constraint to an effective response to the epidemic
Success in AIDS programs provides a powerful mechanism for strengthening health systems and promoting human rights and development programmes. We must continue doing what works, but we must also do more with less resource. We must improve cost efficiency of applied HIV interventions and programs in order to achieve MDG” said Manoela Grozdanova, UNAIDS Country Coordinator for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia.
Source: ArmRadio – Original Article
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