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| UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé addressing press conference in Geneva [PHOTO: UNifeed] |
Geneva: A reduction of more than 50 per cent in the rate of new HIV
infections has been achieved across 25 low- and middle-income countries – more
than half in Africa, the region most affected by HIV – according to a new
United Nations report, which shows that unprecedented acceleration in the AIDS
response is producing results.
The report comes days before World AIDS Day, which falls on
1 December, and as the international community steps up efforts to achieve one
of the anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),
which have a 2015 deadline for achieving them.
At the launch of the UNAIDS 2012 World AIDS Day Report,
Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director announced that, "we are already
achieving the millennium development goal of halting and reversing the AIDs
epidemic. New HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths are declining".
According to the results in some of the countries which have
the highest HIV prevalence in the world, rates of new HIV infections have been
cut dramatically since 2001 – by 73 per cent in Malawi, 71 per cent in
Botswana, 68 per cent in Namibia, 58 per cent in Zambia, 50 per cent in
Zimbabwe and 41 per cent in South Africa and Swaziland.
Sidibe noted that while in the past there were only three
countries in the world that served as a model, "today 25 countries have
reduced new infections by more than 50 percent".
While noting that the pace of progress was quickening,
Sidibe said that "what used to take a decade is now being achieved in 24
months".
In particular, Sidibé cited South Africa as an example of
the benefits of a scaled-up response. It increased its scale-up of HIV
treatment by 75 per cent over the last two years – ensuring 1.7 million people
had access to life-saving treatment – and new HIV infections have fallen by
more than 50,000 in just two years. During this period, South Africa also increased
its domestic investments on AIDS to $1.6 billion, the highest by any low- and
middle-income country.
Antiretroviral therapy has also emerged as a powerful force
for saving lives, the report notes.
Sidibe said that globally there had been a "60 percent
increase in the numbers of people on treatment in the last two years
alone".
In the area of investments in the global AIDS response, the
report shows that countries are increasing their investments despite a
difficult economic climate. The global gap in resources needed annually by 2015
now stands at 30 per cent. In 2011, $16.8 billion was available and the need
for 2015 is between $22-24 billion.
Sidibé, said that as
the world continued to emerge from a challenging economic crisis the resource
need gap in the AIDS response has been narrowed and he also said that 81
countries had increased their domestic investment in HIV/AIDS by more than 50
percent.
In 2011, for the first time ever, domestic investments from
low- and middle-income countries surpassed global giving for HIV. However,
international assistance, which has been stable in the past few years, remains
a critical lifeline for many countries, according to the report. In 26 of 33
countries in sub-Saharan Africa, donor support accounts for more than half of
HIV investments.
The report notes that an estimated 6.8 million people are
eligible for treatment and do not have access. UNAIDS also estimates that an
additional four million discordant couples – where one partner is living with
HIV – would benefit from HIV treatment to protect their partners from HIV
infection.
Despite the encouraging progress in stopping new HIV
infections, the total number of new HIV infections remains high – 2.5 million
in 2011. The report outlines that to reduce new HIV infections globally,
combination HIV prevention services need to be brought to scale. -UNifeed