13 July 2013: The Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has launched a new framework, ‘Treatment 2015,’ aiming to provide 15 million people with HIV/AIDS access to antiretroviral treatment by 2015, by offering countries and partners practical and innovative ways to increase the number of those able to access such treatment. The initiative seeks to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015.

Developed in consultation with a range of stakeholders, Treatment 2015 takes into account the new consolidated guidelines on antiretroviral drug use for treating and preventing HIV infection released in June 2013 by the World Health Organization (WHO). The new guidelines recommend beginning antiretroviral therapy (ART) much earlier.

According to UNAIDS, nearly 10 million people living with HIV were accessing antiretroviral treatment in 2012. However, 30 countries currently account for 9 out of 10 people who are eligible for, but do not have access to, ART. Treatment 2015: emphasizes the importance of HIV testing and counseling as a gateway to expanding access to ART in these 30 countries, which would significantly impact the trajectory of the global AIDS epidemic; and urges all countries to identify key geographical areas and populations with high HIV prevalence but disproportionate unmet need for ART.

Thus, the new framework, as described in a report launched on 13 July 2013, outlines three pillars essential to meeting the 2015 target: increasing demand for HIV testing and treatment services; mobilizing resources and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of spending; and ensuring more people have access to ART. Treatment 2015 encourages countries to enhance public health programmes and leverage services provided by civil society and community based groups, and emphasizes that: community-testing campaigns have been particularly effective in several countries; community health workers have the capacity to provide almost 40% of HIV service-related tasks; testing and treatment services need to be decentralized to promote easier access; and under-served populations must have equitable access to testing and treatment services.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé urged countries and partners to invest in resources and efforts to ensure that everyone has access to HIV prevention and treatment services. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan called the scaling up of ART an “unprecedented global success story for public health.” [UNAIDS Press Release] [UN Press Release] [Publication: Treatment 2015] [Publication: Consolidated Guidelines on the Use of Antiretroviral Drugs for Treating and Preventing HIV Infection] [Information on MDG 6]