Since the first discovery of HIV in the 1980s, there has been much progress in the prevention and treatment of the infection and the disease. World AIDS Day, which takes place today, December 1, serves as a reminder that while significant progress has been made in the global battle against HIV/AIDS, there is still much to be done with 34 million people infected with HIV and, although down from previous years, there were 2.3 million new infections in 2012.
As a leading broadly-based health care company, Johnson & Johnson is committed to the prevention, detection, education and treatment of HIV/AIDS. Here are some of the ways we’re making a difference in the fight against the disease:
- During the course of 2013 we demonstrated our ongoing commitment to develop new HIV treatment options in order to simplify treatment , entered into an agreement with PATH – an international non-profit – to develop a long-acting formulation of one of our medicines as a possible new way to prevent HIV infection, and continued our early basic research toward fulfilling the dream of an HIV vaccine.
- Through the Janssen Global Access and Partnerships Program we continue to increase access and ensure safe and appropriate use of our HIV medicines in least developed countries.
- We now have in place more than 100 philanthropic programs in over 50 least developed countries where we partner with communities to prevent HIV and to reduce the burden of AIDS among women and families.
And we’re making progress.
In partnership with organizations such as the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation and mothers2mothers we are expanding education and services to prevent mother-to-child transmission and reduce the spread of HIV among at-risk women and young people.
Our care and support efforts among community AIDS service organizations, such as with the Missionaries of the Poor in Jamaica, are also helping people affected by HIV/AIDS access services – education, food, shelter, and psychosocial support – to improve their health and quality of life.
We are making life-changing, long-term differences to the lives of hundreds of thousands affected by HIV every day around the world and will continue to do so until we achieve zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero aids-related deaths.
We hope you’ll join us today in celebrating the progress that’s been made, as well as recognizing that there is still much work to be done. You can follow the progress we are making with our partners by following @JNJGlobalHealth on Twitter.