World day of fight against AIDS: The 30e world day of fight against AIDS is held on December first

Since 1988, on December 1st is the world Day of fight against AIDS. For Onusida, the rhythm is insufficient to hope to control the epidemic in 2030.

Thirty years after the first world Day of fight against AIDS, the epidemic of HIV is at a point of inflection. For the first time since the beginning of the century, the number of deaths passed under the bar of the million (900 000). The number of people living with the virus started to decline. Those which have access to the antirétroviraux treatments are three times more than in 2010.

The AIDS is due to the virus VIH which infects cells of the immune system, involving the acquired immunodeficiency. In a context where the immune system is weakened, of pathologies and the opportunist infections develop and compromise the survival of the patient.

In 1988, the General Assembly had expressed her serious concern in front of the pandemia of AIDS. Noting that the World Health Organization (WHO) had chosen dated December 1st, 1988 like world Day of the AIDS, the Parliament stressed the importance of this demonstration (resolution 43/15). Today, more than 41 million people are HIV positive and suffering from Aids. The world day of fight against AIDS is not the only occasion to return on this sensitive file, but while insisting on the fact that we must be all together against the AIDS, it has all its place in the calendar of the international days.

“It there has a crisis of the prevention”, worries Michel Sidibé, director of Onusida (the agency of UNO in charge of the disease). The new infections also regress, but in a proportion quite lower than the intermediate objectives set for 2020: to pass below 500,000 infections and 500,000 deaths from here to two years seems unattainable.
In certain areas, like the East of Europe, one even reached last year of the records of infections (160 000) reports the World Health Organization. In question, there as in other areas of the world, the laws, policies and discriminatory practices against the most exposed populations or the patients. But also a certain relaxation of individual vigilance, as the recrudescence testifies some to other sexual diseases, in the United States as in Europe.

In France, according to the weekly epidemiologic bulletin of November 29th, 2016, in 2010, 652 HIV positive people died: 34,8% French heterosexuals, 29% of users of drugs, 26,5% men having contacts with men and 9,7% foreign heterosexuals. The causes of the deaths varied according to the groups: the AIDS was the main cause of the death at 42,9% from the foreign heterosexuals and 32,9% of the men having contacts with men. The deaths due to hepatic attacks were particularly high in the users of drugs into intravenous (24,3%) against 4,8% to 6,9% for the others. Cancer deaths were more frequent in the French heterosexuals (29,5%).

Public health France estimates the number of carriers of the VIH at 172,700 in the Hexagon, including 24,000 ignoramus their statute. This proportion has not evolved any more “for several years”, according to Inserm. Another worrying figure, a quarter of seropositivities are always done at a too late stage, whereas the disease started to develop.
Certain tools are under–utilized, like the autotests sold in pharmacy, but at a cost (20 €) too high. The refunding of condoms by the Health insurance, announced this week by the Minister for Health, is a small step.

The VIH is often present in Co–infection with other viruses like hepatitises B and C. the Co–infection VIH–tuberculosis is major problems of public health in Africa, where the VIH would be related to the increase in the cases of tuberculosis these ten last years. According to WHO, tuberculosis is responsible for 13% approximately death by AIDS in the world.

“They are tracks towards a remission”. In France it should be known initially, that the established budget with research on the VIH, it is approximately 50 million euros a year. A consequent budget which in particular makes it possible to work on the improvement of the life of the patients. To limit the side–effects of the treatments, to simplify and reduce the catch of the medicines which they must take with life. Precisely, a French study is in hand, and by 2019 she will say for example, so to certain patients one can pass to 1 compressed 4 days out of 7 instead of the every day.

Finally the search for a preventive vaccine against the AIDS is always an absolute priority, about ten “candidate vaccines” are in the course of experimentation in the world, including at least 2 in France. One will know some more about their level of effectiveness by 2020.

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Gabriel MIHAI

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