By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

Peru health officials reported yesterday that 81% of people living with HIV in the country have access to the free antiretroviral treatment provided by the Ministry of Health (Minsa) in their different health facilities in the country.

An artist’s rendition of HIV (foreground). The knobs (purple) covering the virus are sugar-protein molecules, including gp120, that shield the rest of the virus (pink).
Image/National Cancer Institute

Since 2013, the number of people living with HIV who receive treatment in the country has doubled.  According to general director of the General Directorate of Strategic Interventions in Public Health, Ángel Gonzales, there are currently more than 60 thousand people who access antiretroviral treatment throughout the country and for this the Minsa has been implementing a decentralization plan, achieving that to date there are 173 accredited health facilities in all regions.

“When the Great Activity Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) appeared in the world, by 1995, people with HIV had to take more than five pills every eight hours, currently the necessary medications for treatment come in a single tablet,” he said.

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This combined fixed dose treatment has been promoted by the Ministry of Health due to the benefits it offers such as better adherence, lower dropout rates and treatment failure.

On the other hand, in Peru, as of this year, it has been possible to decentralize the monitoring of viral load of people living with HIV in ART, through the Gene Xpert molecular biology platform, which allows this test to be carried out in time. real. There are currently 36 teams in health facilities in nine regions of the country.

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Gonzales recalled that thanks to this remarkable improvement in access to treatment we are at the door of reaching the global goal that UNAIDS set for 2020, which is to have 90% of people diagnosed in treatment.

“We are very well on the way to achieving this goal, which is a new step to end this epidemic in the not so distant future,” he concluded.