MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CMC) — The Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) says Latin America and the Caribbean have established new targets for expanding diagnosis and antiretroviral treatment (ART) and reducing patients’ viral loads by the year 2020.

The accord with partner agencies is viewed as a move by the region to jointly address the HIV epidemic and improve the lives of people living with the virus, PAHO said that the new targets, dubbed ’90-90-90′, were adopted during the First Latin American and Caribbean Forum on the HIV Continuum of Care, which is being held here this week.

It said the forum was organised by a coalition of partners, including Mexico’s Secretariat of Health and UNAIDS.

“Expanding early diagnosis and treatment combines the clinical benefits of early treatment for patients with benefits to the population of preventing transmission, said CÈsar NuÒez, regional director of UNAIDS for Latin America.

The head of PAHO’s Hepatitis, Tuberculosis and Sexually Transmitted Infections Unit, Massino Ghidinelli, said the new targets are a step forward in controlling the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

“If we want more people to be on treatment and to achieve undetectable viral loads, they have to know their diagnosis and begin treatment early,” he said.

UNAIDS estimates that in 2012, some 1.8 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean were living with HIV, and some 98,000 people became newly infected.

New PAHO estimates for 2013 suggest that 70 per cent of people living with HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean know they are infected, adding this is an average based on data from countries that account for 62 per cent of the region’s HIV epidemic.

However, it said in some countries fewer than half know their HIV diagnosis.

Expanding testing by increasing the availability of tests and involving communities and civil society in the effort will lead to

more people with HIV seeking the treatment they need, PAHO said.

It said about 725,000 people with HIV were receiving antiretroviral treatment in Latin America and the Caribbean as of December 2012, stating that preliminary estimates suggest this number increased to more than 800,000 by December 2013.

PAHO said treatment coverage rates in Latin America and the Caribbean are higher than in any other low- and middle-income region.

However, it said the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) newest HIV guidelines recommend earlier initiation of treatment, when someone’s CD4 cell count falls to 500 cells/mm or less, which has increased the number of people who meet the criteria for receiving treatment.

PAHO said applying the new criteria to 2012 data would reduce the region’s coverage rate to 43 per cent and that expanding treatment would contribute to better health for people with HIV, reduce cases of AIDS and prevent new infections.

PAHO said as a result, regional countries agreed to revise their models of care to make treatment more accessible.

It said data indicate that about 66 per cent of people with HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean had suppressed viral loads in 2013.

PAHO said reaching the 90 per cent target will require improved patient adherence to treatment.

“Suppressed viral load is critical for controlling the harmful effects of HIV infection on people’s health and also significantly reduces the risk of infecting others. To promote adherence and keep patients under treatment, HIV health care must be decentralised to levels that allow greater interaction with the community,” PAHO said, noting that countries also agreed on a fourth target: reducing delayed diagnosis.

As of 2013, it said half of countries providing data reported that at least a third of people with HIV were at an advanced stage of immunological disease at the time of their diagnosis.

PAHO said this situation has been improving, however, with late diagnoses declining from 40 per cent to 35 per cent between 2012 and 2013, reflecting expanded HIV testing in a number of countries.