Washington — The number of people receiving antiretroviral (ARV) treatment to control AIDS symptoms reached a new high in 2010, and the numbers of new infections declined by 25 percent on average between the years 2001 and 2009, according to a new United Nations report.
India and South Africa, the two nations with the greatest numbers of people living with HIV/AIDS, saw an even greater decline in new infections, with India down more than 50 percent and South Africa down 35 percent. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) reported these figures in a global report on the status of the disease, AIDS at 30: Nations at the crossroads.
The number of people receiving treatment has multiplied 22-fold since 2001, reaching 6.6 million in low- and middle-income countries. In 2010 alone, 1.4 million people began receiving treatment for the first time. Available since the mid 1990s, ARV treatment can allow a person with HIV to survive close to a normal lifespan of healthy and productive years. Compare that prospect to the death sentence that a person faced when diagnosed with HIV in the earliest years of the pandemic.
“Antiretroviral therapy is a bigger game-changer than ever before,” said Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS executive director. “It not only stops people from dying, but also prevents transmission of HIV to women, men and children.”
While there is progress to be celebrated in the global AIDS pandemic at the 30-year mark, other statistics underscore that the toll of the disease is still immense. An estimated 35 million people are living with the disease today, and an estimated 30 million have died. The percentage of people receiving treatment has reached a new high, but the numbers not receiving it are still great.
“A major treatment gap remains,” according to the UNAIDS press report. Approximately 9 million people eligible for treatment at the end of 2010 did not have access. Children have lesser access than adults, with the UNAIDS report citing a 28 percent level of ARV therapy for children, contrasted to a 36 percent level of therapy being received by people of all ages.
Groups on the social fringes who have a higher vulnerability to HIV exposure are also less likely to receive ARV treatment, according to the U.N. report. These groups include intravenous drug users, men who have sex with men, sex workers and transgender people.
The rate of new infections has declined from its highs of recent years, but the number of new infections each day is about 7,000. New infections show an aggregate decline worldwide, but in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, the rate of new infections has increased, according to UNAIDS findings.
The U.N. General Assembly is holding a special session June 8–10 to assess the state of the pandemic, and to reaffirm the commitment of the U.N. community to fighting the pandemic.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton issued a statement in recognition of the 30th anniversary, emphasizing the U.S. commitment to overcoming the disease, as demonstrated through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, PEPFAR, which has provided ARV treatment for more than 3.2 million people.