Soon there will be a generation who will not know AIDS

In July, for the first time in two decades, the world's largest AIDS conference will be held in the United States. It is expected that more than 20 thousand people will gather in Washington to take part in it. According to Eric Goosby, the head of the US HIV / AIDS Program, significant progress has been made in this area over the past thirty years.

The fact that soon there will be a generation that does not know AIDS, said President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"These statements are based on a number of scientific discoveries, mostly done by laboratories funded by the United States, who were able to change the course of the game," says Erik Goose. - The wave that once swept the whole world, became a wave that united the world. Despair gives way to hope. "

Recent advances in this area include the development of vaccines, microbicides and the development of new treatment modalities.

Gooseby recalls that in the early 1980s doctors could not fight this mysterious disease and people died, in fact, without any help. Everything changed in the mid-1990s, when the first antiretroviral drugs appeared. However, in Africa the situation was close to catastrophic.

"AIDS obliterated a whole generation. The hospitals were full of dying people. They did not receive any medications that were already available in the US and Europe, and therefore HIV infection became a death sentence, "says Goose.

According to Goosby, AIDS "threatened the very foundations of African society": "He destroyed people in their prime when they had to take care of their families. He led to the appearance of millions of orphans who did not have the opportunity to go to school. "

The disease seriously weakened the economies of many states, as a result of which they got bogged down in a vicious cycle of poverty.

Today, thanks to the availability of many medications, patients have a chance to live.

"Ten years ago, almost no one in Africa received treatment," said Eric Goosby. - Today, 6.6 million people receive antiretroviral therapy. The vast majority of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. " All this was largely due to the President's Emergency Plan for the Fight against AIDS (PEPFAR). The implementation of this program began under President George W. Bush and continues under President Obama.

"The US contribution to the fight against the epidemic can not be overemphasized. - says Goosby - Through the PEPFAR program, last year alone, the US supported the treatment of almost 4 million people. In 2008, there were 1.7 million, which indicates that the program is constantly expanding despite the fact that we are experiencing serious budgetary problems. "

Last year, thanks to PEPFAR, 660,000 women were provided with drugs that prevent the transmission of the HIV / AIDS virus from mother to child. Thanks to PEPFAR in 2011, 40 million people mole to take tests and get medical advice.

Together with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the PEPFAR program funds many programs in developing countries.

Goose is sure that there is a chance that a generation that does not know AIDS will soon appear.

"We know what needs to be done to end this epidemic," he says. "Hope comes to despair."

The last time the International AIDS Conference was held in 1990 in San Francisco. The reason for such a large temporary gap was the ban on the entry of HIV-infected foreigners into the United States. The first steps to repeal this ban were taken by President George W. Bush, and he was completely removed when President Barack Obama took office.

The 19th International AIDS Conference will be held from 22 to 27 July.

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