Left to right: OPAS Representative in Brazil Joaquin Molina; Vice-Minister of Health Jarbas Barbosa; UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Luiz Loures; and Minister of Health Alexandre Padilha. Credit: Luiz Philipe Leite/Brazil Health Ministry
Left to right: UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Luiz Loures; Minister of Health Alexandre Padilha; UNAIDS Country Coordinator Georgiana Braga Orillard; Director National AIDS, STD and Viral Hepatitis Programme Fábio Mesquita; and Head of the International Affairs Office MoH Alberto Kleiman. Credit: Luiz Philipe Leite/Brazil Health Ministry
Feature Story
Brazil’s Minister of Health on country’s new innovative HIV initiative
01 November 2013
01 November 2013 01 November 2013The Minister of Health of Brazil, Alexandre Padilha met with UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Luiz Loures on the country’s new HIV strategy in Brasilia on October 31.
Later this year, Brazil is planning to launch a new approach to the HIV response. While the strategy’s plan to provide life-saving antiretroviral therapy (ART) to everyone has received widespread attention, Minister Padilha provided more details on two other innovative aspects of the programme.
The new strategy will focus HIV programmes on geographic regions where HIV prevalence is much higher than the rest of the country. It also plans to expand ART coverage by task shifting HIV treatment services from special clinics to primary health care clinics.
Quotes
All this will only be possible with a massive testing campaign. Innovative Brazilian-made rapid tests will be in the market in the first quarter of the year. This will make a difference to reach populations in remote areas such as the Amazon.
Brazil is at the forefront of the world’s HIV response and is a key player in ending the AIDS epidemic.
