At the end of November 2010, UNAIDS released its annual global report on the Global AIDS epidemic. While it was more than 300 pages of facts and figures, the headline was clear – the AIDS epidemic has been halted and the world is beginning to reverse the spread of HIV.
That is big news.
After this epidemic has claimed the lives of more than 25 million people, we are starting to see that it may be possible to win this war. New HIV infections have fallen, AIDS-related deaths are down and the total number of people living with HIV is stabilizing.
Perhaps one of the most positive pieces of news was that the total number of children born with HIV has decreased dramatically – putting us even closer to reaching the goal of eliminating mother to child transmission of HIV by 2015. An estimated 370,000 children were newly infected with HIV in 2009, representing a drop of 24% from five years earlier. Significant gains were observed in sub-Saharan Africa where new HIV infections among children have fallen 32%.
While we celebrate progress and push forward to reach the major milestone of creating the first AIDS-Free generation in nearly thirty years, it’s even more important to strengthen our focus and funding for this issue. There are still more than 33 million people in the world living with HIV and Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be most affected by the epidemic representing 69% of all new HIV infections. We should celebrate progress and accelerate action or all that has been accomplished will be lost and we will end up spending much more down the line to treat the disease as it continues to ravage future generations.
To read more of the UNAIDS 2010 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic go here.
That is big news.
After this epidemic has claimed the lives of more than 25 million people, we are starting to see that it may be possible to win this war. New HIV infections have fallen, AIDS-related deaths are down and the total number of people living with HIV is stabilizing.
Perhaps one of the most positive pieces of news was that the total number of children born with HIV has decreased dramatically – putting us even closer to reaching the goal of eliminating mother to child transmission of HIV by 2015. An estimated 370,000 children were newly infected with HIV in 2009, representing a drop of 24% from five years earlier. Significant gains were observed in sub-Saharan Africa where new HIV infections among children have fallen 32%.
While we celebrate progress and push forward to reach the major milestone of creating the first AIDS-Free generation in nearly thirty years, it’s even more important to strengthen our focus and funding for this issue. There are still more than 33 million people in the world living with HIV and Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be most affected by the epidemic representing 69% of all new HIV infections. We should celebrate progress and accelerate action or all that has been accomplished will be lost and we will end up spending much more down the line to treat the disease as it continues to ravage future generations.
To read more of the UNAIDS 2010 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic go here.
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