Aids-Free Generation In Our Sights, Predict Experts

Could End Of AIDS Be Within Our Reach?
|

Could the end of Aids really be within our reach?

There is a sense of renewed optimism that the future prospects for finding an HIV cure are increasing, as the annual International AIDS Conference takes place in America.

According to a statement from the International AIDS Society (IAS), during the past two years, a group of international experts have been developing a roadmap for research towards an HIV cure.

Open Image Modal

Single mother Veena has HIV

Their report in Nature Reviews Immunology called Towards an HIV Cure, identifies seven important priority areas for basic, translational and clinical research and maps out a path for future research collaboration and funding opportunities.

“The science has been telling us for some time now that achieving a cure for HIV infection could be a realistic possibility," said French Nobel laureate Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, co-discoverer of the HIV virus, in a statement.

"The time is right to take the opportunity to try and develop an HIV cure. We might regret never having tried,” he continues.

Scroll down to see how a single mother copes with HIV (VIDEO)

Major investments in science have resulted in the worldwide availability of over 20 antiHIV drugs. When used in combination, these drugs restore health, prolong life and reduce transmission of the virus, and even maintain control of HIV infection indefinitely.

Despite these successes, these therapies have limitations. They do not eradicate HIV, requiring people to remain on expensive and potentially toxic drugs for life, and can have unpleasant side effects.

Patients also suffer an increased chance of cardiovascular disease and bone disorders.

In the UK, the Department For International Development (Dfid) has committed to spending £280 million per year in India until 2015, and a large portion of it on matters relating to health.

Watch how Veena, a woman living in India with her family, copes with HIV. After her husband died from the virus, she was left widowed and then diagnosed with drug resistant tuberculosis. Her coping methods make for a truly inspiring story, courtesy of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

This week, five British, HIV-positive, charity ambassadors are attending the International AIDS Conference, which began in Washington DC yesterday.

They are the first visitors since America lifted its ban on people with the virus entering the country.

Three women and two men, all in their early 20s, from the London-based HIV charity Body and Soul, will showcase the work of the charity, which attempts to change how HIV is perceived.

In 2009, US president Barack Obama announced that the travel ban would be lifted and in January 2010, America reopened its doors to HIV positive people.