Care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS
Care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS
Care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS
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National responses to the epidemic: factors that make a differenceAt the heart of debt reduction deals under HIPC lies the challenge of agreeing on significantgoals in poverty reduction <strong>and</strong> on measurable indicators of progress towardsthese goals. Lending countries will have greater incentives to reduce debt if there areclear <strong>and</strong> measurable ways of assessing the benefits. For example, a medium-term<strong>AIDS</strong>-related target might be to provide low-cost treatments to a specific percentageof the population suffering from the most common opportunistic infections.Measurable indicators <strong>for</strong> monitoring progress would likely include the availability ofspecific generic medicines in primary health care centres.During the first months of 2000, several countries in Africa have started to feature<strong>HIV</strong>/<strong>AIDS</strong> more prominently in their poverty-reduction strategies <strong>and</strong> in related HIPCdebt relief agreements. This is encouraging. But a concerted ef<strong>for</strong>t by a coalition ofinterested African government officials, civil society representatives, creditor governments,<strong>and</strong> United Nations <strong>and</strong> multilateral agencies will be required to ensure thatdebt relief is actually used to mobilize substantially increased funding <strong>for</strong> <strong>AIDS</strong>.ConclusionTwo decades of action against the epidemic have generated important insights intoan effective response. While international political, financial <strong>and</strong> technical <strong>support</strong>are important, lowering incidence <strong>and</strong> mitigating the epidemic’s impacts must be anationally driven agenda. To be effective <strong>and</strong> credible, national responses require thepersistent engagement of the highest levels of government. Countries that haveadopted <strong>for</strong>ward-looking strategies to fight the epidemic are reaping the rewards infalling incidence. Other countries are yet to see the fruits of their ef<strong>for</strong>ts, <strong>and</strong> in theabsence of rapid <strong>and</strong> visible results, sustaining a response becomes more difficult.However, evidence shows that the combination of approaches described in thischapter have brought about a lowering of incidence in some countries. At present,<strong>and</strong> until the arrival of a vaccine, these approaches are the strongest weapons in ourfight back against <strong>HIV</strong>/<strong>AIDS</strong>.115