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AIDS epidemic close to ending, says UN
Source: Agencies |
November 22, 2012, Thursday
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AN end to the worldwide AIDS epidemic is in sight, the UN says, mainly due to better access to drugs that can both treat and prevent the incurable human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes the disease.
Progress over the past decade has cut the death toll and helped stabilize the number of people infected with HIV, the UN AIDS program said in its annual report on Tuesday.
"The global community has embarked on an historic quest to lay the foundation for the eventual end of the AIDS epidemic. This effort is more than merely visionary. It is entirely feasible," UNAIDS said.
Some 34 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2011, the report said. Deaths from AIDS fell to 1.7 million in 2011, down from a peak of 2.3 million in 2005 and from 1.8 million in 2010.
Worldwide, the number of people newly infected with HIV, which can be transmitted via blood and by semen during sex, is also falling. At 2.5 million, the number of new infections in 2011 was 20 percent lower than in 2001.
"Although AIDS remains one of the world's most serious health challenges, global solidarity in the AIDS response during the past decade continues to generate extraordinary health gains," the report said.
It said this was due to "historic success" in bringing HIV program to scale, combined with the emergence of new combination drugs to prevent people from becoming HIV infected and from dying from AIDS.
"The pace of progress is quickening - what used to take a decade is now being achieved in 24 months," said Michel Sidib, executive director of UNAIDS. "We are scaling up faster and smarter than ever before. It is the proof that with political will and follow through we can reach our shared goals."
Since 1995, AIDS drug treatment - known as antiretroviral therapy - has saved 14 million life-years in poorer countries, including 9 million in sub-Saharan Africa, the report said.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the most severely affected region with almost one in every 20 adults infected, nearly 25 times the rate in Asia. Some 8 million people were being treated with AIDS drugs by the end of 2011, a 20-fold increase since 2003.
Progress over the past decade has cut the death toll and helped stabilize the number of people infected with HIV, the UN AIDS program said in its annual report on Tuesday.
"The global community has embarked on an historic quest to lay the foundation for the eventual end of the AIDS epidemic. This effort is more than merely visionary. It is entirely feasible," UNAIDS said.
Some 34 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2011, the report said. Deaths from AIDS fell to 1.7 million in 2011, down from a peak of 2.3 million in 2005 and from 1.8 million in 2010.
Worldwide, the number of people newly infected with HIV, which can be transmitted via blood and by semen during sex, is also falling. At 2.5 million, the number of new infections in 2011 was 20 percent lower than in 2001.
"Although AIDS remains one of the world's most serious health challenges, global solidarity in the AIDS response during the past decade continues to generate extraordinary health gains," the report said.
It said this was due to "historic success" in bringing HIV program to scale, combined with the emergence of new combination drugs to prevent people from becoming HIV infected and from dying from AIDS.
"The pace of progress is quickening - what used to take a decade is now being achieved in 24 months," said Michel Sidib, executive director of UNAIDS. "We are scaling up faster and smarter than ever before. It is the proof that with political will and follow through we can reach our shared goals."
Since 1995, AIDS drug treatment - known as antiretroviral therapy - has saved 14 million life-years in poorer countries, including 9 million in sub-Saharan Africa, the report said.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the most severely affected region with almost one in every 20 adults infected, nearly 25 times the rate in Asia. Some 8 million people were being treated with AIDS drugs by the end of 2011, a 20-fold increase since 2003.
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