US urge World Bank to play role in HIV reduction

By Anne Mugisa in Washington DC                                                                                                                                          

The US Government has called on the World Bank to play a role in the reduction of HIV infections by creating financing systems and loan resources which ensure money moves from the North to the South and not the other way round.

The State Department Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby said that the gains so far made by putting those infected on Anti-Retroviral treatment could easily be reversed if governments and partners slowdown in their commitment towards the fight due to inadequate resources.

“If we take the foot off the accelerator we could easily have problems. We have eight million out of 15million people on ART. This can easily be reversed if we slow down and the problem would get out of hand again”, Ambassador Goosby said.

Goosby was reacting to journalists’ queries regarding the effects of the World Bank policies on the ability of African and other developing countries to provide and sustain provision of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) as a means to fight HIV/AIDS.

Goosby addressed journalists in one of the meetings preceding the XIX international AIDS Conference that opened last evening (Sunday Evening) in Washington DC. The meeting is being held here for the first time in 22 years as recognition for the US Government abolition of the policy that blocked HIV position people from entering the US.  The conference has attracted 20000 participants from all over the world.

He also said that governments need to commit more resources to health to ensure that people who need care get it. He commended the African Union saying that they have recommitted to the Abuja agreement where they agreed to commit 15% of their budgets to health.

Access to ART, according to Ambassador Goosby will reduce the transmissibility of HIV by a person on treatment by 96%. He said that this is because the virus is greatly reduced sometimes to undetectable levels.

He advocated male a step up of male circumcision, Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) and ART. He noted that male circumcision drops acquisition of HIV infection by an uninfected circumcised male by 64%. He said that in addition, counseling and testing as well condom use should be encouraged to be used in combination with other preventive measures. This will give people a chance to make informed decisions and giving them a chance to change.

“We can drop the number of infections and incidents,” Goosby said. He noted that there has been a drop in HIV infections in most of the Sub-Saharan African countries except Uganda.

He also said that there is need for structural interventions to be put in place by the different governments in addition to other interventions to ensure access.

Ambassador Goosby said he is happy with the work done with the help PEPFAR, but said that Governments should take a more leading role designing and running their programs. The US and other developing partners will be happy working with countries that are taking charge of their programmes, he said.

He said that PEPFAR started by being their implementers but worked with governments to set up delivery systems and identified partners who included non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to ensure continuity.

“The check here is that civil society organizations and people generally need to have a voice to say what is working and if their needs are not being met,” Goosby said to queries as to how the US would ensure accountability in PEPFAR supported countries. “Some countries have competing priorities and could not put money in programmes funded by donors, but we talked to them and told them that they need to invest in their people. They should invest in their people and that way, congress would be willing to work with them in partnership and not work as the Ministry of health for those countries,” he said.

According to Goosby, countries should take advantage of the developments in HIV diagnosis and treatment to ensure that transmissions are curtailed.