90-90-90 Target of UNAIDS

The term 90-90-90 refers to a target set by UNAIDS programme. This target is:

• By 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status.
• By 2020, 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy.
• By 2020, 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.

With 36.7 million people suffering from AIDS in the world, this appears to be a gigantic target. The realization of these targets would mean that 73% of all HIV-positive individuals will be virally suppressed, sufficient to achieve control of the global epidemic. But these targets are just a beginning – a 95-95-95 target is the aspiration for 2030.

How these targets to be achieved?

To achieve this target, the UN has called the countries to take measures in their own countries. While some countries like Sweden are very near to achieve this target, most countries, particularly in African are too far to achieve them in near future.

Sweden and 90-90-90

WHO predicts that Sweden will be first country to achieve this target. At the end of 2015, 90% of HIV cases in Sweden were diagnosed, 99.8% of people were linked to care and 95% of people taking anti-retrovirals for at least six months had a viral load below 50 copies/ml.  There are several reasons for Sweden’s success such as small size of the epidemic; legislation that obliges laboratories and clinicians to report new HIV cases; patients to keep follow-up appointments; linkage of patients to specialist treatment centres with multi-disciplinary teams; free access to ART and high level of adherence to national guidelines.

Globally, an estimated 48% of the HIV+ individuals are on antiretroviral therapy and 40% of all people with HIV virally suppressed. In some countries like Botswana getting access to the HIV care is still a struggle for the young men and women.

Status of India

India has also come up with its own HIV/AIDS Bill with the objective of promoting rights of people with AIDS but it does not assert the right to treatment positively owing to the fact that it still lacks the necessary technology to do so. Thus, it is a difficult target for India to achieve also. Hence, a strong monitoring process is required for achieving such a massive target.