Americas must redouble HIV testing and treatment efforts:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The Pan American Health Organization is putting pressure on the "many governments of the Americas" who must redouble their efforts if they are to achieve their HIV/AIDS testing and treatment targets. The so-called Nuevo Leon Declaration, signed by 34 countries in January 2004, pledged to strive to meet 100% of the HIV/AIDS healthcare needs of the continent, with at least 600,000 people covered by the end of 2005. One year on, many countries have achieved coverage of less than 50%. One of the problems is that half of the estimated 3.14 million people infected with HIV in the Americas are not aware of the infection - the official figure stands at around 1.6 million. "Stigma and discrimination are preventing people from getting tested," says PAHO.