Progress has been made towards reducing HIV infections through the development of safer and more effective prevention options such as microbicides, pre-exposure prophylaxes (PrEP) and vaccines.
Though the drugs are at different phases of development, already the scientific world has shown optimism that the battle against the HIV has reached its final stages.
The conference was the first global scientific gathering dedicated exclusively to biomedical HIV prevention.
While previous meetings focused on individual prevention methods, R4P builds on a growing consensus that combination approaches will be most effective in driving down the global epidemic.
Some 1,300 researchers, clinicians, private sector leaders, advocates, policy makers and public health experts armed with some 550 new research studies, convened for the four-day meeting aimed at zeroing all efforts on the elimination of the deadly virus.
“Today we are talking about some 30 drugs that have been approved for use by people living with HIV/AIDS and many more are at different stages of development.
“We now have a range of tools for tackling HIV, which include prevention of mother-to-child transmission, male circumcision, pre-exposure prophylaxis, microbicides and more recently convincing data for prevention as treatment, with strong scientific agendas towards a vaccine and a cure,” said Naledi Pandor, South Africa Minister of Science and Technology, at the Opening Plenary Session.
Twenty years ago the global picture was depressing as there was very little hope for people infected with the virus.
The minister acknowledged that despite the scientific progress made, it would take a combination of biomedical, behavioural and socio-economic interventions for the world to achieve the ultimate goal of zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS related deaths.
According to Pandor, 2.4 million out of 6.4 million infected South Africans are on ARVs, resulting in the reduction of the mother-to-baby transmission rate from 8 percent in 2008 to 2.7 percent in 2012.
She said investment in research and development for new prevention tools remained a critical goal for South Africa and other countries on the continent.
There was concern at the number of new infections, which continues to out-pace the number of people accessing treatment. The other challenge was for countries to ensure that the interventions were safe, effective, accessible, affordable and met the needs of those at risk of infection.
Post published in: Health