New HIV infections are rising in three regions, namely the Middle East and North Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia and Latin America, and gaps and inequalities persist, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS has said.
UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima in a media statement Tuesday said that although tremendous progress has been made in preventing new HIV infections, which have fallen by 39 per cent since 2010 globally, and by 59 per cent in eastern and southern Africa, a new report released by UNAIDS shows that new HIV infections are rising in these three regions.
‘Globally, of the 39.9 million people living with HIV, 9.3 million, nearly a quarter, are not receiving life-saving treatment. As a consequence, a person dies from AIDS-related causes every minute,’ she said.
Byanyima said world leaders pledged to reduce annual new infections to below 370 000 by 2025, but new HIV infections are still more than three times higher than that, at 1.3 million in 2023.
She said in Namibia 95 per c
ent of all adults, 15 to 49 years old, are aware of their HIV status, of whom 97 per cent were accessing HIV treatment and 94 per cent of these had suppressed viral loads in 2023.
She added that HIV responses succeed when they are anchored in strong political leadership and several countries are already on track. Botswana, Eswatini, Rwanda, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe have already achieved the 95-95-95 targets, and at least 16 others, including Namibia are close to doing so, Byanyima said.
The ED further said world leaders pledged to end the AIDS pandemic as a public health threat by 2030, and can uphold their promise if they ensure that the HIV response has the resources it needs and that the human rights of everyone are protected.
She also indicated that the report finds that if leaders take the bold actions needed now to ensure sufficient and sustainable resourcing and human rights protection, the number of people living with HIV requiring life-long treatment, will settle at around 29 m
illion by 2050.
However, if they take the wrong path, the number of people who will need life-long support will rise to 46 million by 2050.
Source: The Namibia News Agency