The global fight against AIDS is at "precarious" according to United Nations



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London:

Complacency begins to slow the fight against the global AIDS epidemic, with a pace of progress that does not correspond to 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. The promises made to the most vulnerable people in society are not kept, "says the report." There are still miles to go to end the AIDS epidemic, time is running out "

Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of UNAIDS, noted in the foreword of the report that there had been great progress in reducing the number of people worldwide are receiving antiretroviral therapy.

According to the report, of the 37 million people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, 21.7 million were in treatment by 2017, five and this rapid and sustained increase in number of people receiving treatment has reduced the number of AIDS-related deaths by 34% from 2010 to 2017. AIDS deaths in 2017 were the lowest in this century, with less than one million people, according to the report.

But Sidibe also Highlighted what he said were "crisis" situations in preventing the spread of HIV and in obtaining sustained funding

. with equal efforts to reduce new HIV infections, "he said." New HIV infections are not shrinking fast enough, HIV prevention services are not being delivered on an adequate scale … and n & rsquo; Do not reach the people who need it most. "

Sidibe said that new infections

" I am distressed by the fact that in 2017, 180,000 children were infected with the HIV, far from the 2018 goal of eliminating new HIV infections in children, "he writes.

Data in the report showed that between adults and children around the world , about 1.8 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2017.

Since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, more than 77 million people have contracted HIV. half of them – 35.4 million – died of AIDS

The report says that at the end of In 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 Sidibe. 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. 19659003]

© Thomson Reuters 2018

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