The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and global health initiative Unitaid have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to intensify collaboration to advance HIV response in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The US$ 5 million grant, which was signed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 30 July, aims to reduce HIV deaths in the region by addressing the prevention and management of advanced HIV disease.

The project will focus on identifying gaps and barriers in national HIV programs, strengthening HIV surveillance, accelerating the introduction of new tests and treatment, and training healthcare workers.

“To improve access to prevention and treatment, we must decentralize HIV care so that it is closer to patients,” PAHO Director, Dr. Jarbas Barbosa said during the signing of the agreement. “This grant will allow us to support countries to incorporate tools that will enable us to move even faster towards the elimination of HIV-related deaths.”

An estimated 2.3 million people live with HIV in Latin America and 340,000 in the Caribbean. Thanks to modern treatment options, the number of HIV-related deaths has declined over the past 10 years in both Latin America and the Caribbean (by 28% and 57% respectively). However, in 2023, new infections increased by 9% in Latin America, despite reductions of 22% in the Caribbean and 51% globally, highlighting an urgent need for more targeted interventions.

Advances in medicine and public health have enabled rapid diagnosis as well as the development of methods for combined prevention and effective treatment against the virus. A person with HIV who adheres to treatment no longer transmits the virus, and people who are at substantial risk can avoid HIV infection by taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) that ensures 99% protection. New antigen based rapid diagnostics can also identify if somebody with HIV has a severe infection (such as tuberculosis, histoplasmosis or cryptococosis), which helps to ensure earlier access to treatment.  New data supports the use of shorter prevention and treatment options for many of these opportunistic infections.

“This new agreement is part of our effort to support countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to get the innovation they need to fight HIV and it will consolidate the work we are already doing,” Unitaid Executive Director, Dr. Philippe Duneton said. “As we move ahead in the fight against HIV, I am optimistic that bringing in new tools and new public health approaches will result in the impact we want on advanced HIV disease in the Americas.”

Since 2020, PAHO and Unitaid have collaborated to support health innovations in the region of the Americas. Earlier this year, they signed a Memorandum of Understanding to intensify collaboration to end 30 preventable communicable diseases in the region by 2030, including cervical cancer, HIV and Chagas disease.

HIV infection is one of the diseases addressed in PAHO’s Elimination Initiative, which aims to eliminate more than 30 communicable diseases and related conditions by 2030.