World AIDS Day 2017 | Fighting HIV together

On World AIDS Day (1st December), ViiV Healthcare, a company dedicated to improving the lives of people living with HIV (PLHIV), is marking a year during which tremendous strides have been made by the entire HIV community to improve the lives, as well as the treatment and care options, of people living with HIV (PLHIV) worldwide.

Despite major progress in the fight against the HIV/AIDS, a number of important challenges remain.

Since the human virus emerged 30 years ago, HIV has become one of the world’s most infectious killers, infecting 76.1 million people and accounting for the death of 35 million people due to AIDS-related illnesses.

Against the backdrop of progress in the HIV battle, where AIDS-related deaths continue to drop, work needs to be carried to address the difficulties faced by PLHIV today and those at risk of contracting the virus.

Many of the 36.7 million people living with HIV globally still face significant stigma and discrimination, while access to treatment and care options remains a challenge in some parts of the world, and 30% of PLHIV do not know their HIV positive status (WHO estimate2).

“As a company, we are committed to a united effort to achieve the UNAIDS goal of having an AIDS-free generation by 2030. Working with our partners, we are making major strides in our drive to deliver real-life solutions today. A world free of HIV/AIDS is an ambitious vision, but by fighting HIV together we stand the best chance of making it a reality,” said a ViiV Healthcare spokesperson.

As part of its Positive Action initiative, ViiV healthcare provided a grant to a Maltese NGO which enabled the provision of free HIV Self-Test kits. Under Positive Action, ViiV is supporting more than 300 programmes that work to deliver real-life solutions, through grants to community-based organisations across the globe.

“This has brought innovative thinking and problem solving to address hard-to-tackle yet common challenges that limit health, opportunity, rights and the aspirations of PLHIV,” said the spokesperson.  

Meanwhile earlier this year, the company launched an international survey called  Positive Perspectives, to better understand the emerging needs and challenges of those living with HIV and their partners/significant others.

“The initial findings highlighted some of the gaps in support structures that we and the HIV community can help to fill,” added the spokesperson.