PAHO signs agreement to expand early HIV diagnosis in Latin America and the Caribbean

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, CMC – The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) says it will collaborate with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) to expand early HIV diagnosis in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The organisations said the aim is to improve access to testing, facilitate timely linkage to care, and help reduce preventable AIDS-related deaths.

Despite significant progress in the HIV response across Latin America and the Caribbean, late diagnosis remains one of the main challenges to reducing new HIV infections and AIDS-related mortality, and to advancing toward the elimination of HIV as a public health problem.

In 2025, approximately 34 per cent of new HIV diagnoses in the region were made at an advanced stage of infection, while an estimated 32,000 people died from AIDS-related causes.

The new joint initiative forms part of broader efforts to accelerate progress toward eliminating HIV as a public health problem in the Americas. The partnership will leverage the complementary expertise of both organisations to expand access to testing services, strengthen linkage to care, and accelerate the adoption of innovative strategies across the region.

“We continue to see far too many people in our region learning their HIV status only after the infection has progressed to an advanced stage, reducing opportunities to prevent serious complications and avoidable deaths,” said Monica Alonso, Chief of PAHO’s HIV, Sexually Transmitted Infections, Viral Hepatitis, Tuberculosis and Malaria Unit.

“Expanding access to testing and ensuring that people are rapidly linked to care and treatment is essential to reducing AIDS-related deaths and saving more lives across the Americas,” she added.

The collaboration was announced during PAHO’s satellite session, ‘The Last Mile to Elimination: Reducing Mortality from Advanced HIV Disease’, held at the International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) in Rio de Janeiro.

The session brought together government representatives, community organisations, international agencies, and strategic partners to discuss the barriers that continue to limit timely access to HIV diagnosis and treatment.

While the region has made major gains over recent decades, thousands of people continue to be diagnosed at an advanced stage of infection. Late diagnosis remains a major contributor to HIV-related illness and death, despite the availability of effective testing methods and treatments that enable people living with HIV to lead long and healthy lives.

In 2025, approximately 2.1 million people living with HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean were receiving antiretroviral therapy, representing a regional treatment coverage rate of 72 per cent. However, an estimated 900,000 people were still not receiving treatment, and loss to follow-up remains one of the major barriers to achieving regional HIV targets.

The collaboration between PAHO and AHF will support efforts to expand access to HIV testing, including HIV self-testing and community-based service delivery models. It will also seek to strengthen linkage to and retention in care, promote the exchange of experiences among countries, and generate evidence to identify and scale up high-impact interventions.

“Closing the remaining gaps in the HIV response requires far more than having effective tools available. We must ensure they reach the people who need them, at the right time and in ways that reflect the realities of each country and community,” said Dr Adele Benzaken, AHF’s Senior Global Medical Director.

AHF is a nonprofit organisation that provides HIV-related services in 50 countries and operates in 11 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean.

“The collaboration between AHF and PAHO provides an opportunity to combine implementation experience, innovation, and technical cooperation with a regional perspective, helping accelerate our progress toward HIV elimination in the Americas,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Region of the Americas has more tools than ever before to prevent, diagnose, and treat HIV, yet many of them are still not reaching everyone who needs them, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Jarbas Barbosa told the opening session of the International AIDS Conference.

Dr Barbosa said that expanding access to innovations such as oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), long-acting injectable PrEP, rapid testing, and HIV self-testing, together with strengthening early diagnosis and ensuring timely treatment initiation, will be essential to accelerate the elimination of HIV as a public health problem in the region.

In his remarks, Dr Barbosa said the Americas have repeatedly demonstrated that ambitious public health goals can be achieved through cooperation, scientific evidence, and strong health systems.

He noted that the region has eliminated polio and rubella and that several countries have eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV, achievements that provide a strong foundation for accelerating progress toward HIV elimination.

Dr Barbosa also noted that countries in Latin America and the Caribbean now finance 92 per cent of HIV investments through domestic resources, representing one of the highest levels of domestic funding for HIV programmes globally and demonstrating the region’s sustained commitment to the HIV response.

“The question before us is no longer whether we have the tools to end HIV as a public health threat. We do. The question is whether we can ensure that those tools reach everyone who needs them, regardless of where they live, who they are, or the circumstances they face,” said Barbosa, adding, “innovation only changes lives when people can access it.”

According to the latest available data, AIDS-related deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean declined by 46 per cent between 2010 and 2025.

In 2024 alone, access to antiretroviral treatment prevented an estimated 117,000 AIDS-related deaths. Access to PrEP also increased substantially, from 35,000 people in 2020 to more than 326,000 in 2025.

Despite this progress, significant gaps in access and coverage remain. Approximately one in three new HIV diagnoses is still made at a late stage of infection, and nearly 900,000 people living with HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean are not receiving treatment.

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