Yesterday at the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna, the United Nations and the Stop TB Partnership agreed to step up joint efforts to halve by 2015 the number of people with HIV who die from tuberculosis. TB accounts for one quarter of all deaths among those living with the virus. The two organizations plan to work with civil society organizations, communities affected by TB and HIV and the private sector to form a strong partnership to jointly address TB and HIV. They also plan on making at least two joint visits in the next year to areas heavily affected by the diseases to promote the new initiatives, and to have at least one international event per year promoting the new initiative.
Also at the conference today, the UN Office on Dugs and Crime launched a toolkit on addressing needs for prevention and treatment of HIV and TB in prisons, where there are particularly large populations living with the diseases. The toolkit includes comprehensive HIV care available to all prisoners in the form of prevention, voluntary counseling and testing, antiretroviral treatment, and prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections.
- Clara Hill
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