Kathmandu, November 30 Stigma and discrimination continue to pose access barriers to key populations at highest risk of HIV, and this must change if we are to achieve an AIDS-free world, said WHO’s South-East Asia Region today. Issuing a press release on the eve of World AIDS Day, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia, said, “As treatment expands, people with HIV live longer and are at risk of diseases related to lifestyles and ageing like noncommunicable diseases. We know that people with HIV on lifelong treatment are at higher risk of NCDs, and non-AIDS illnesses are now major causes of mortality among people living with HIV. This calls for a chronic care model within a primary care approach,” WHO has been updating evidence on prevention, testing, treatment, monitoring – including drug resistance – and service delivery approaches. The Global Strategy on Health Sector Response to HIV 2016–2021, endorsed by all member countries at the World Health Assembly in May 2016, provides the framework for effective and sustainable implementation of evidence-based interventions. “We need to be innovative and strike where it impacts the most; our focus and prioritisation of interventions is critical, especially in low and concentrated epidemic settings in populous countries. This is all the more important in the scenario of receding resources,” she said. “Proactive and affirmative action, backed by political will and innovative and sustainable financing will go a long way in fast tracking the national HIV responses that would steer the South-East Asia Region towards an AIDS-free generation and an AIDS-free world,” she said.