Since the initial presentations on and consequent controversies surrounding the subject, I have been an avid supporter of the principles behind the ground-breaking concept of ‘Treatment as Prevention.’

The premise of ‘Treatment as Prevention’ is as follows: people living with HIV who adhere to an antiretroviral therapy regimen almost always achieve undetectable viral loads – the amount of virus in a body fluid such as blood, semen or vaginal secretions – at certain stages of their treatment. When the viral load is undetectable, the risk of HIV transmission is significantly reduced. 

With this in mind, achieving universal access to anti-retroviral drugs becomes doubly important, as treating all those in need, and earlier, not only saves individual lives but actually lowers the collective viral load of communities, significantly reducing rates of HIV transmission. More...

On Thursday night I appeared on Canada’s popular news show The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos. In addition to talking about Vancouver’s safe injecting site and our efforts to keep it open, I used the opportunity to once again urge our Prime Minister to make AIDS a priority at the upcoming G8 summit.

As I noted on the show, “I cannot comprehend how anyone can talk about maternal and child health in Africa and ignore the fact that 30% of the women in that age group are actually HIV infected. How can you pretend that you are going to look after their health and the health of the children when you are not bringing them treatment?...My concern is this is all about politics and not about honest delivery of programmes.”

Speaking with George about the need for the G8 to commit more resources to treatment scale up, I noted, “The cost effectiveness of this treatment is incredible. They are in fact not just cost effective, they are cost averting. They are saving us money. We’re not doing it because we don’t care. We don’t care to follow up on our promises.”

Click here to view the interview.

Recently I had the rare opportunity to address a session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs about the dearth of evidence-based HIV prevention and treatment programmes for people who use drugs and the need for scale up as a key component of achieving universal access. And it's important to note that this opportunity was rare - The Commission on Narcotics and Drugs struggles with hearing the voices of anyone but governments. I sat around waiting for my slot for nearly six hours. The voices of civil society cannot be heard until all Member States have had their chance, so every time I was ready to speak another country put up their flag and we went to the back of the queue. How very different from the reformed environment we've become used to at the Global Fund and UNAIDS. I'm told that my remarks were news to many of the diplomats present. Surprising - and depressing.

Robin Gorna speaks during an AIDS 2010 press briefing at the Commission on on Narcotic Drugs meeting. IAS President Julio Montaner is at right. Credit: UNIS/Vienna.

My remarks to the official body follow along with video taken at the meeting by the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union. It focuses on Russia's resistance to implementing evidence-based interventions for people who use drugs. The video contains footage from the AIDS 2010 press briefing we held during the CND meeting and features IAS President Julio Montaner.  More...