A certain weariness is entering the war on AIDS. Wrongly so
The Economist - "“HOW much does the world want to eliminate AIDS?” That was the question hanging over the 22nd meeting of the International AIDS Society (IAS), which opened in Amsterdam this week. “How much” is a phrase with two possible interpretations: emotional desire and financial willingness.
(...) But there is also a sense that things are fraying at the edges. Targets are not being met. Money is not arriving as expected. A scandal at UNAIDS, involving allegations of sexual harassment by a former deputy director (who denies wrongdoing), is casting shadows. And scientific progress is patchy.
The peak of AIDS hubris seemed to come at the IAS meeting in Melbourne in July 2014. Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS’s director, announced the 90-90-90 aspiration—that by 2020, 90% of those infected will know they have the disease, 90% of those will be on ARVs, and 90% of them will have their virus levels suppressed to the point of clinical negligibility. This was ambitious enough. But in December of that year, the UN itself topped it by proposing an “end to AIDS” by 2030." (Photo: AIDS2018/MMS)