FN: spredning af hiv/aids kan stoppes

Forfatter billede

En undersøgelse fra FN viser, at hvis hiv-smittede får den rette medicin, kan risikoen for spredning af den farlige virus næsten elimineres. Men det kræver, at folk får adgang til medicinsk behandling.

United Nations agencies fighting HIV/AIDS on Thursday lauded the results of an international study that shows that if an HIV-positive person immediately follows an appropriate treatment of anti-retroviral drugs, the risk of transmitting the virus to an uninfected sexual partner is nearly entirely eliminated, writes UN News Centre.

The trial, conducted by the HIV Prevention Trials Network, tracked more than 1,700 couples across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the United States and found that the risk of infection fell by 96 per cent.

The reduction in risk was so large that the trial was stopped some three to four years ahead of schedule.

– This breakthrough is a serious game changer,” said Michel Sidibé, the Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), who added that “now we need to make sure that couples have the option to choose treatment for prevention and have access to it.

Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), said:

– This is a crucial development, because we know that sexual transmission accounts for about 80 per cent of all new infections.