Last week, the global HIV Nursing world convened in Durban, South Africa for the 21st International AIDS Conference (IAC), and I had the honor of welcoming them as the president of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC). This was the first time the International AIDS Society recognized an official nursing pre-meeting, and we welcomed nurses from 14 countries.
The delegation heard from the South African Minister of Health, the Chief Nursing Officer of South Africa, and the International AIDS Society President—the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health’s Chris Beyrer—among others, who gave remarks on the critical role of the profession in scaling up access to HIV prevention, treatment and care.
ANAC, in partnership with other global nursing and HIV organizations, was the leader of this initiative to ensure the voices of nurses were heard and had impact. A highlight to the conference was the debut of the call to action, which provides a concise summary of nursing’s voice in the fight to end AIDS and stop HIV transmission.
- This call to action represents the most powerful statement by the global nursing community at IAC and seeks to enhance commitment and support for nursing roles in meeting the goals of 90-90-90.
- Nurses, as both frontline HIV care providers and the world’s largest health work force, are key to ensuring 90-90-90. To achieve these ambitious targets, greater investments in nursing are required.
- Initial endorsers are ANAC, ANA, DENOSA, IAS, ICN, ICAP, UNAIDS, but the call to action is open for wide endorsement by individuals and organizations through 2016.
Please join me and the HIV Nursing world, and sign this call to action in support of greater investment in nursing towards achieving UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: JASON FARLEY @jasonfarleyJHU
Jason Farley, PhD, MPH, ANP-BC, AACRN, FAAN, is an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Director of the REACH Initiative, and a nurse practitioner in the Division of Infectious Diseases within the Johns Hopkins AIDS Service. Farley has led the development and scale-up of a program to enhance diagnosis, linkage, and retention in care for patients with drug-resistant TB/HIV co-infection across the globe, and he is a leader in pre-exposure prophylaxis, working with the Baltimore City Health Department to implement a citywide initiative to increase access and retention of PrEP services in men who have sex with men.
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