18.2 mln people now on antiretroviral therapy, UN agency says

A new report by UNAIDS launched Monday in Namibia showed that 18.2 million people are now on antiretroviral therapy, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here.

The latest figure means an additional one million people accessing treatment in just six months (January to June 2016).

"If these efforts are sustained and increased, the world will be on track to achieve the target of 30 million people on treatment by 2020," Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.

Released ahead of World Aids Day, which falls on Dec. 1, the new report said that people are particularly vulnerable to HIV at certain points in their lives and calls for a life-cycle approach to find solutions for everyone at every stage of life, he added.

However, the UN agency also warned that 15-24 years of age is a highly dangerous time for young women.

The report contained detailed data on the complexities of HIV and reveals that girls' transition to womanhood is a very dangerous time, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

"Young women are facing a triple threat," said the executive director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibe. "They are at high risk of HIV infection, have low rates of HIV testing, and have poor adherence to treatment. The world is failing young women and we urgently need to do more."

HIV prevention is key to ending the AIDS epidemic among young women and the cycle of HIV infection needs to be broken. Recent data from South Africa shows that young women are acquiring HIV from adult men, while men acquire HIV much later in life after they transition into adulthood and continue the cycle of new infections.

Meanwhile, the report also said that the life-extending impact of treatment is working. In 2015, there were more people over the age of 50 living with HIV than ever before -- 5.8 million.

The report highlighted that if treatment targets are reached, that number is expected to soar to 8.5 million by 2020. Older people living with HIV, however, have up to five times the risk of chronic disease and a comprehensive strategy is needed to respond to increasing long-term health-care costs.

The report warned of the risk of drug resistance and the need to reduce the costs of second- and third-line treatments. It also highlights the need for more synergies with tuberculosis (TB), human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer, and hepatitis C programmes in order to reduce the major causes of illness and death among people living with HIV.

In 2015, 440 000 of the 1.1 million people who died from an AIDS-related illness died from TB, including 40 000 children.

"The progress we have made is remarkable, particularly around treatment, but it is also incredibly fragile," Sidibe said. "New threats are emerging and if we do not act now we risk resurgence and resistance. We have seen this with TB. We must not make the same mistakes again." Endit