2023-07-28 13:34:28
Before 2030. That is the date that has been marked UNAIDS to end the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the world. The key, he says in a report, is a strong political leadership. That is, follow the data, science, and evidence; address the inequalities that hold back progress; enable communities and civil society organizations to play their vital role in the response; and ensure sufficient and sustainable funding.
The report provides data and practical cases that highlight that ending AIDS is a political and financial choiceand that the countries and leaders that are already following this path are achieving extraordinary results.
For example, the document points out, countries like Botswana, Swaziland, Rwanda, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe they have already achieved the ’95-95-95′ targets, and at least 16 others are close to doing so. That means that 95% of people with HIV are diagnosed; that 95% of them are in treatment; and that 95% of them have an undetectable viral load and, therefore, cannot be transmitted.
Another 16 countries, eight of them in sub-Saharan Africa, the region where 65% of all people living with HIV are concentrated, are also close to doing so.
“The end of AIDS provides us with an occasion for an exceptionally powerful legacy for today’s leaders,” says Winnie ByanyimaExecutive Director of UNAIDS. “Future generations might remember them as the ones who were able to end the world’s deadliest pandemic. They could save millions of lives and protect the health of all. They could demonstrate everything that good leadership is capable of achieving.
Thanks to the support and investment to end AIDS between children, 82% of pregnant and lactating women living with HIV globally gained access to antiretroviral treatment by 2022, up from 46% in 2010. This has reduced new HIV infections among children by 58% from 2010 to 2022, the lowest number since the 1980s.
If 95% of people with HIV have an undetectable viral load, the virus becomes intransmisible.
In addition, according to a document presented by the World Health Organization (WHO) and presented at the XII International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2023), held in Brisbane (Australia)the risk of HIV transmission when someone has a suppressed viral load, although detectable, despite being too low to measure, is “virtually zero or negligible.”
This information is especially relevant. When a person’s viral load (number of copies of virus in the blood) falls into the “suppressed” category, it means that the risk of HIV being transmitted is “virtually zero or negligible». This expression was specifically chosen to be in line with “zero risk”
The report of the OMS highlights that the original message of Undetectables equals Untransmittable (I=I) remains the same: People with HIV with an undetectable viral load are not at risk of transmitting the virus to their sexual partners. On the other hand, the document also advises that access to viral load tests be extended to all people with HIV using all available tools.
The number of people receiving antiretroviral treatment has quadrupled: from 7.7 million in 2010 to 29.8 million in 2022
However, the report also states that ending AIDS will not come automatically. AIDS is claiming one life every minute in 2022. Around 9.2 million people remain without access to treatment, including 660,000 children living with HIV.
Women and girls remain by far the most affected, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Globally, 4,000 young men and girls contracted HIV every week in 2022. Only 42% of districts with HIV incidence above 0.3% in sub-Saharan Africa are currently covered by targeted HIV prevention programs for teenage girls and young women.
Nearly a quarter (23%) of new HIV infections occurred in Asia and the Pacific, where new infections are increasing alarmingly in some countries. Steep rise in new infections continues in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (a 49% increase from 2010) and in the Middle East and North Africa (a 61% increase from 2010). These trends are mainly due to the lack of HIV prevention services for key and marginalized population groups, as well as obstacles posed by punitive laws and societal discrimination.
XII International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science, held in Brisbane, Australia IAS
HIV in numbers
39.0 million people were living with HIV worldwide
29.8 million people had access to antiretroviral treatment
1.3 million people became infected with HIV
630,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses
The funding for HIV also decreased in 2022both from international sources and from national sources, and returned to the same level as in 2013. The funding amounted to 20.8 billion of US dollars in 2022, well below the 29.3 billion US dollars needed for 2025.
Now we can end AIDS by increasing political will by investing in a sustainable HIV response by funding what matters most: evidence-based HIV prevention and treatmentthe integration of health systems, non-discriminatory laws, gender equality and trained community networks.
“We have hope, but not the relaxed optimism that we could feel if everything was as it should be. Instead, it is a hope rooted in seeing the opportunity for success, an opportunity that depends on action,” says Byanyima. “The facts and figures reflected in this reporte don’t say the world is already on the right trackbut yes it can be. The path is clear.”
#affirms #AIDS