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Drugs push up survival rate among HIV victims
Source: Agencies |
November 22, 2011, Tuesday
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THE number of people living with the AIDS virus is growing, largely due to better access to drugs that keep them alive and well for many years, the United Nations AIDS programme said yesterday.
In its annual report on the pandemic, UNAIDS said the number of deaths from the disease fell to 1.8 million last year, down from a peak of 2.2 million in the mid-2000s.
UNAIDS director Michel Sidibe said the past 12 months had been a "game-changing year" in the global fight against AIDS.
Some 2.5 million deaths have been averted in poor and middle-income countries since 1995 due to improved access to drugs, according to UNAIDS.
Much of that success has come in the past two years as the number of people accessing treatment has grown rapidly.
Sidibe said: "We have never had a year when there has been so much science, so much leadership and such results in one year. Even in this time of public finance crises and uncertainty about funding, we are seeing results. More countries than ever (are achieving) significant reductions in new infections and stabilizing their epidemics."
Since the beginning of the pandemic in the 1980s, more than 60 million people have been infected with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. The virus can be controlled for many years with cocktails of drugs, but there is as yet no cure.
The UNAIDS report said 34 million people worldwide had HIV in 2010, up from 33.3 million in 2009.
Among the most dramatic changes was the leap in the number of people receiving drug treatment.
Of the 14.2 million people eligible for treatment in low- and middle-income countries, around 6.6 million, or 47 percent, are now receiving it, UNAIDS said, and 11 poor- and middle-income countries now have universal access to HIV treatment, with coverage of 80 percent or more.
This compares with 36 percent of the 15 million people needing treatment in 2009 who were able to access the drugs.
Major producers of HIV drugs include Gilead, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck, Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline. Improved access to drugs from these and other manufacturers means not only that fewer people are dying each year, -UNAIDS said, but also that the risk of new infections is reduced.
A series of scientific studies have shown that timely treatment for those with HIV can substantially cut the number of people who become newly infected. Sidibe said this is starting to show in new case numbers.
There were 2.7 million new HIV infections worldwide last year, 15 percent fewer than in 2001, and 21 percent fewer than at the peak of the pandemic in 1997.
In its annual report on the pandemic, UNAIDS said the number of deaths from the disease fell to 1.8 million last year, down from a peak of 2.2 million in the mid-2000s.
UNAIDS director Michel Sidibe said the past 12 months had been a "game-changing year" in the global fight against AIDS.
Some 2.5 million deaths have been averted in poor and middle-income countries since 1995 due to improved access to drugs, according to UNAIDS.
Much of that success has come in the past two years as the number of people accessing treatment has grown rapidly.
Sidibe said: "We have never had a year when there has been so much science, so much leadership and such results in one year. Even in this time of public finance crises and uncertainty about funding, we are seeing results. More countries than ever (are achieving) significant reductions in new infections and stabilizing their epidemics."
Since the beginning of the pandemic in the 1980s, more than 60 million people have been infected with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. The virus can be controlled for many years with cocktails of drugs, but there is as yet no cure.
The UNAIDS report said 34 million people worldwide had HIV in 2010, up from 33.3 million in 2009.
Among the most dramatic changes was the leap in the number of people receiving drug treatment.
Of the 14.2 million people eligible for treatment in low- and middle-income countries, around 6.6 million, or 47 percent, are now receiving it, UNAIDS said, and 11 poor- and middle-income countries now have universal access to HIV treatment, with coverage of 80 percent or more.
This compares with 36 percent of the 15 million people needing treatment in 2009 who were able to access the drugs.
Major producers of HIV drugs include Gilead, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck, Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline. Improved access to drugs from these and other manufacturers means not only that fewer people are dying each year, -UNAIDS said, but also that the risk of new infections is reduced.
A series of scientific studies have shown that timely treatment for those with HIV can substantially cut the number of people who become newly infected. Sidibe said this is starting to show in new case numbers.
There were 2.7 million new HIV infections worldwide last year, 15 percent fewer than in 2001, and 21 percent fewer than at the peak of the pandemic in 1997.
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