HIV response achieves "extraordinary" progress since 2000: UNAIDS report

Ahead of World AIDS Day 2015 on Dec. 1, the United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) on Tuesday highlighted in a report that "progress in responding to HIV over the past 15 years has been extraordinary."

According to the new report, titled "Focus on location and population: on the Fast-Track to end AIDS by 2030," 15.8 million people were accessing antiretroviral therapy as of June 2015, compared to 7.5 million people in 2010 and 2.2 million people in 2005.

At the end of 2014, UNAIDS estimated that new HIV infections had fallen by 35 percent since the peak in 2000 and AIDS-related deaths have fallen by 42 percent since the 2004 peak.

"Every five years we have more than doubled the number of people on life-saving treatment," said Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

"We need to do it just one more time to break the AIDS epidemic and keep it from rebounding," He added.

The report identified 35 countries that account for 90 percent of new HIV infections. UNAIDS highlighted focusing on location and population and program that deliver the greatest impact will reap huge benefits by 2030, which means avert 21 million AIDS-related deaths and prevent 28 million new HIV infections.

The report also showed that areas with fewer numbers of people living with HIV and lower HIV prevalence are more likely to have discriminatory attitudes than areas that have more cases of HIV.

UNAIDS said to end AIDS as a public health threat, an accelerated and more focused response is needed using better data to map and reach people in the places where the most new HIV infections occur. Endit