Pope Francis urges continued dialogue to widen access to testing and treatment services

Update

Pope Francis urges continued dialogue to widen access to testing and treatment services

27 May 2016

A meeting has been held at the Vatican to finalize a road map to improve access to HIV treatment for children. The meeting, held on 16 and 17 May, was a follow-up to an earlier meeting in April that explored ways to provide greater access to testing and treatment services for diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis.

Both meetings were hosted by Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Participants included representatives of national governments, faith-based organizations and people living with HIV, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Luiz Loures and the United States Global AIDS Coordinator, Ambassador Deborah Birx.

The road map will be presented at the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS, to be held in New York, United States of America, from 8 to 10 June.

Quotes

“Scientific research has increased the possibilities for prevention and care; it has discovered therapies to treat a wide variety of diseases. You have also worked for this most worthy commitment: to respond to the needs and hopes of the sick throughout the world … Let the dialogue continue until we find the will, the technical expertise, the resources and the methods that provide access to diagnosis and treatment available to all, and not simply to a privileged few for … there is no human life that is qualitatively more significant than another.”

Pope Francis

Update