The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) are jointly campaigning for a new initiative to accelerate HIV testing and treatment coverage in a region where only 15% of the estimated people in need of treatment are receiving it, making it the region with the lowest HIV treatment coverage in the world.
An advocacy document entitled, “Accelerating HIV treatment in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean and UNAIDS Middle East and North Africa regions”, was launched at the Sixtieth session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean in Muscat, Oman.
Accelerating HIV treatment in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region and UNAIDS Middle East and North Africa regions provides a framework for scaling up treatment built on four pillars: creating demand for testing and treatment, investing in health systems for the management and care of HIV, delivering results in an equitable manner and committing to urgent action.