UN says global AIDS fight is at "precarious point"



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UNAIDS said that as deaths declined and treatment rates increased, rates of new HIV infections threatened to frustrate efforts to defeat the disease.

Michel Sidibé. Photo: UN Photo

LONDON – Complacency begins to slow the fight against the global AIDS epidemic, the pace of progress does not match what is needed, warned the United Nations on Wednesday.

UNAIDS reported in an update report that the fight was at a "precarious stage" and that as deaths declined and treatment rates increased, rates of new infections threatened to decline. to defeat the disease. Track. The promises made to the most vulnerable people in society are not kept up, "says the report." There are miles to go to end the AIDS epidemic. The time is running out.

Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, noted in the foreword of the report that great progress had been made in reducing the number of deaths from AIDS and bringing a record number of people on antiretroviral therapy. According to the report, about 21.7 million of the 37 million people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were on treatment in 2017, five and a half times more than a decade ago.

This rapid and sustained increase The number of deaths from AIDS in 2010 was the lowest in this century, with fewer than one million people, according to the report.

But Sidibé also said that there were "crisis points" now in preventing the spread of HIV – especially among vulnerable and high-risk populations – and in obtaining HIV. Sustainable financing.

"The success of saving lives has not been matched by new HIV infections," he said. "New HIV infections are not shrinking fast enough HIV prevention services are not provided on an adequate scale … and do not reach the people who need them most."

"FINANCIAL CRISIS"

Sidibé said he did not stop the news "I am saddened by the fact that in 2017, 180,000 children were infected with HIV, far from it. aim to eliminate new HIV infections in children in 2018, "he wrote

. in the report showed that globally among adults and children around the world, about 1.8 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2017.

Since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the In the 1980s, more than 77 million people became infected with HIV. Nearly half of them – 35.4 million – have died of AIDS.

Linda-Gail Bekker, president of the International Aids Society, said that the UNAIDS report showed that the main obstacles to the end of the epidemic were ideological and political. 19659004] "AIDS is far from over," she said. "We can not congratulate ourselves on global progress until this progress is shared by all."

The report revealed that by the end of 2017, $ 21.3 billion was available for the AIDS response in low- and middle-income countries. More than half came from domestic sources of funding rather than international donors. UNAIDS estimates that $ 26.2 billion will be needed to fund the fight against AIDS by 2020.

"There is a funding crisis," said Mr Sidibé. While global AIDS resources increased in 2017, there was still a 20% gap between what is needed and what is available.

Such a deficit will be "catastrophic" for countries that rely on international aid to fight AIDS. 19659021] (function (d, s, id) {
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