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Global HIV infections drop, UN says
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The global rate of HIV infection and the number of AIDS-related deaths have been dramatically reduced due to expanding access to treatment, the United Nations said in a report issued yesterday.
In its annual update on HIV, which it said now infects around 35.3 million people worldwide, UNAIDS said deaths from AIDS and HIV infection rates were falling, while the number of people getting treatment is going up.
AIDS-related deaths last year fell to 1.6 million, down from 1.7 million in 2011 and a peak of 2.3 million in 2005. The number of new infections dropped to 2.3 million last year compared to 2.5 million in 2011.
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS can be transmitted via blood, breast milk and by semen during sex, but can be kept in check with cocktails of drugs known as antiretroviral treatment or therapy.
By the end of 2012, some 9.7 million people in poorer and middle-income countries had access to such AIDS drugs, an increase of nearly 20 percent in a year.
Since 2001, the UN report said, there has been a 52 percent drop in annual new HIV infections among children and a 33 percent reduction in newly infected adults and children combined.
WHO sets new guidelines
In 2011, UN member states agreed to a target of getting HIV treatment to 15 million people by 2015. As countries scaled up treatment coverage and as evidence showed how treating HIV early also reduces its spread, the World Health Organization set new guidelines this year, expanding the number of people needing treatment by more than 10 million.
Michel Sidib, UNAIDS’ executive director, said the international community should aim to surpass the 2015 goal.
“Not only can we meet the 2015 target of 15 million people on HIV treatment, we must also go beyond and have the vision and commitment to ensure no one is left behind,” he said in the report.
The report found that donor funding has leveled off, remaining near 2008 levels. However, individual spending by countries has increased, accounting for 53 percent of global HIV resources in 2012.
Total funding for the global fight against HIV and AIDS in 2012 was US$18.9 billion, short of the estimated US$22 billion to US$24 billion needed annually by 2015.
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