Eradicating HIV will take collaborative action and a commitment to curb TB infections
The Forum of International Respiratory Societies highlights World AIDS Day
December 1, 2023
GLENVIEW, IL – This World AIDS Day, the Forum of
International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), of which the American College of
Chest Physicians (CHEST) is a founding member, calls on governments, health
advocates and nongovernment organizations to strengthen their response to
AIDS and tuberculosis (TB). This collaborative effort is necessary to help
realize the World Health Organization’s (WHO) goal of
ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic diverted funds from TB infections
worldwide and resulted in
1.3 million TB deaths
in 2022. In limited-resource countries, TB is often the first sign a person
has HIV, yet about half of the people living with HIV and TB are unaware of
their coinfection and are not receiving appropriate care that could prevent
serious illness and death. TB is the leading cause of death among those with
HIV/AIDS worldwide, with 167,000 HIV-associated TB deaths in 2022.
Shortly after AIDS emerged, it fueled a global resurgence of TB that
continues in many low- and middle-income countries. In 2022, the WHO
reported that the
largest number of new TB cases
were in WHO’s Southeast Asia Region (46%), followed by the African Region
(23%) and the Western Pacific Region (18%). According to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, HIV infection is the
greatest risk factor for progressing from latent to active TB.
HIV increases the risk of other infectious respiratory diseases, including
Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia and bacterial pneumonia, both of
which can be life threatening. There is also an increased risk of
noninfectious lung complications.
Education, prevention strategies and new medicines, particularly
antiretroviral therapies, have reduced the number of AIDS-related deaths by
69% since the peak in 2004.
Still, the WHO estimates that in 2022, an estimated 39 million people were
living with AIDS, 1.5 million of them children.
FIRS believes a global response to HIV/AIDS can be strengthened by:
- Increasing awareness of the continuing global threat of
HIV-related disease and its link to TB and other respiratory diseases
- Improving the health outcomes of people living with HIV through
patient care and research into better prevention, early diagnosis and
effective treatment strategies for both HIV and TB, including rapid
diagnosis and treatment for multidrug-resistant TB that is harder to cure
- Reducing the incidence and severity of HIV-related disease by
strengthening mother-to-child transmission prevention programs and
increasing the early use of antiretroviral therapy
- Improving HIV education in at-risk communities to reduce the
incidence of new HIV infections
- Reducing HIV-related health disparities and inequities
About the American College of Chest Physicians
The American College of Chest Physicians® (CHEST) is the global leader in
the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of chest diseases. Its mission is to
champion advanced clinical practice, education, communication and research
in chest medicine. It serves as an essential connection to clinical
knowledge and resources for its 22,000+ members from around the world who
provide patient care in pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. For
information about the American College of Chest Physicians, and its flagship
journal CHEST®, visit chestnet.org.
About
the Forum of International Respiratory Societies
The Forum of International Respiratory Societies
(FIRS) is an organization comprised of the world's leading international
respiratory societies working together to improve lung health globally. The
goal of FIRS is to unify and enhance efforts to improve lung health through
the combined work of its more than 70,000 members globally.
FIRS comprises the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST), American
Thoracic Society (ATS), the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR),
Asociación Latinoamericana de Tórax (ALAT), European Respiratory Society
(ERS), International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The
Union), Pan African Thoracic Society (PATS), the Global Initiative for
Asthma (GINA) and the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease
(GOLD).
The Global Impact of Respiratory Disease
report outlines major causes of respiratory disease and lays out
recommendations for global action.