World Leaders Urged to Act With Courage to End Aids

As the International AIDS Conference - AIDS2022 - in Montreal comes to a close, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima has commended the dedication of thousands of scientists worldwide, civil society groups, and the support of key policymakers for issues lifted up at the conference that could enable a turning point in the global Aids response.

The research presented at the conference provides new data, important scientific progress, and further evidence on the biomedical, social, and policy interventions needed to stop the Aids pandemic. The insights and data shared by community organisations showed concretely how Aids can be stopped from snatching a life every minute and ways to tackle the inequalities driving the pandemic.

This was a breakthrough conference for new long-acting ARVs to stop HIV. New research showed that injectable PrEP is among the most effective tools for preventing HIV and works well in multiple populations.

The World Health Organization released new guidelines and drugmaker ViiV has announced licenses for generic manufacturing of the drug in 90 countries. This could be a game-changer if ViiV can provide an affordable price for low- and middle-income countries now, in the tens of dollars not hundreds of dollars, since it will be several years before generic production comes online and if generics are made available beyond these original 90 countries, reports UNAids.