AIDS-related deaths halved since 2005: UNAIDS

According to the report, more than half of all people living with HIV (53%) now have access to HIV treatment and AIDS-related deaths have almost halved since 2005. In 2016, 19.5 million of the 36.7 million people living with HIV had access to treatment, and AIDS-related deaths have fallen from 1.9 million in 2005 to 1 million in 2016. Provided that scale-up continues, this progress puts the world on track to reach the global target of 30 million people on treatment by 2020.

“We met the 2015 target of 15 million people on treatment and we are on track to double that number to 30 million and meet the 2020 target,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS said in Geneva on Thursday. “We will continue to scale up to reach everyone in need and honour our commitment of leaving no one behind,” according to a press release faxed to IRNA Friday by the United Nations Information Center (UNIC) in Tehran.

The region showing the most progress is eastern and southern Africa, which has been most affected by HIV and which accounts for more than half of all people living with HIV. Since 2010, AIDS-related deaths have declined by 42%. New HIV infections have declined by 29%, including a 56% drop in new HIV infections among children over the same period, a remarkable achievement resulting from HIV treatment and prevention efforts that is putting eastern and southern Africa on track towards ending its AIDS epidemic.

Regarding the ‘90-90-90 targets’, the report, Ending AIDS: progress towards the 90–90–90 targets, gives us detailed analysis of the progress and challenges toward achieving the targets. The targets were launched in 2014 to accelerate progress so that, by 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV know their HIV status, 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV are accessing sustained antiretroviral therapy and 90% of all people accessing antiretroviral therapy are virally suppressed.

The report shows that in 2016 more than two thirds (70%) of people living with HIV now know their HIV status. Of the people who know their status, 77% were accessing treatment, and of the people accessing treatment, 82% were virally suppressed, protecting their health and helping to prevent transmission of the virus.

Eastern and southern Africa, western and central Europe and North America and Latin America are on track to reach the 90–90–90 targets by 2020. Seven countries have already achieved the 90–90–90 targets—Botswana, Cambodia, Denmark, Iceland, Singapore, Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland—and many more are close to achieving it.

Progress against the 90–90–90 targets has, however, been poor in the Middle East and North Africa and in eastern Europe and central Asia, where AIDS-related deaths have risen by 48% and 38%, respectively. There are exceptions within these regions showing that when concerted efforts are made, results happen. For example, Algeria has increased HIV treatment access from 24% in 2010 to 76% in 2016, Morocco from 16% in 2010 to 48% in 2016 and Belarus from 29% in 2010 to 45% in 2016.

Globally, progress has been significant, but there is still more work to do. Around 30% of people living with HIV still do not know their HIV status, 17.1 million people living with HIV do not have access to antiretroviral therapy and more than half of all people living with HIV are not virally suppressed.

Global solidarity to stop new HIV infections among children has produced results. Around 76% of pregnant women living with HIV had access to antiretroviral medicines in 2016, up from 47% in 2010.

The report also shows that, globally, new HIV infections are declining, but not at the pace needed to meet global targets. Globally, new HIV infections declined by 16% from 2010 to 2016, to 1.8 million [1.6 million–2.1 million]. Declines were estimated in 69 countries, in the majority of which treatment scale-up has been implemented alongside an increase in the availability of combination HIV prevention services and in some countries condom use. However, alarming increases have been seen in new HIV infections in eastern Europe and central Asia.

The report also enumerates off-track issues and points toward HIV treatments and the number of people not aware of their HIV status as well as the number of new HIV infections.

Only 43% of children living with HIV have access to antiretroviral therapy, compared to 54% of adults. Ending AIDS also reveals that as many as two thirds of children under two years old are diagnosed late and start treatment with advanced immunodeficiency, resulting in a high mortality rate for children of this age group. More action is needed to diagnose and treat children living with HIV.

Young people (15–24 years) are lagging behind on multiple fronts—knowledge of HIV, HIV testing, treatment and prevention. Young people continue to be at great risk of HIV infection, especially young women in sub-Saharan Africa.

The report reveals that less than 50% of young men know how to protect themselves from HIV infection, that men are much less likely to know their HIV status or start treatment than women and that less than 50% of men living with HIV are accessing antiretroviral therapy. Many men who are diagnosed with HIV are diagnosed late and start treatment only when they fall ill, making them much more likely to die of AIDS-related illnesses than women. Deaths from AIDS-related illnesses were 27% lower among women than among men.

Eastern Europe and central Asia is the only region in the world where new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths are both rising. New HIV infections increased from 120 000 [100 000–130 000] in 2010 to 190 000 [160 000–220 000] in 2016. People who inject drugs accounted for 42% of new HIV infections in the region. In the Russian Federation, newly reported cases of HIV increased by 75% from 2010 to 2016. Several other countries in the region—including Albania, Armenia and Kazakhstan—also have rapidly growing epidemics.

Even though access to HIV treatment in eastern Europe and central Asia has more than doubled in the past six years, still only 28% of people living with HIV have access to antiretroviral therapy, despite two out of three people living with HIV knowing their HIV status. AIDS-related deaths have increased by 38%.

In the Middle East and North Africa, just over half of people living with HIV knew their HIV status, with less than half of those on HIV treatment. Only one out of five people living with HIV was virally suppressed.

At the end, resources for the AIDS response remain flat. At the end of 2016, around US$ 19 billion was available in low- and middle-income countries, with domestic resources accounting for 57% of the global total. An estimated US$ 26 billion will be needed for the global response to HIV by 2020.

“We are maximizing the use of every dollar available, but we are still US$ 7 billion short,” said Mr Sidibé. “With more international assistance, increased domestic funding, innovative financing and effective programming can end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.”

In 2016 an estimated:
19.5 million people were accessing antiretroviral therapy
36.7 million [30.8 million–42.9 million] people globally were living with HIV
1.8 million [1.6 million–2.1 million] people became newly infected with HIV
1.0 million [830 000–1.2 million] people died from AIDS-related illnesses

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