Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jul 14, 2016 News
Globally, new HIV infections among adults and children have reduced by 40 per cent since the peak in 1997. However, recent analysis from UNAIDS shows that new HIV infections among adults have stalled.
There has been no decline for at least five years. A new UNAIDS report outlines what is needed to step up prevention efforts
The Prevention Gap Report essentially reveals concerning trends in new HIV infections among adults. The report shows that while significant progress is being made in stopping new HIV infections among children, the decline in new HIV infections among adults has stalled, thus, the need for HIV Prevention efforts to be urgently scaled up among this age group.
New HIV infections have declined by more than 70 per cent among children since 2001 and are continuing to decline, the Report said.
HIV PREVENTION GAP AMONG ADULTS
The Prevention gap report shows that an estimated 1.9 million adults become infected with HIV every year for at least the past five years, and that new HIV infections among adults are rising in some regions, including the Caribbean.
The Prevention gap report therefore gives the clear message that HIV prevention efforts need to be increased in order to stay on the Fast-Track to ending AIDS by 2030.
Eastern Europe and Central Asia saw a 57 per cent increase in annual new HIV infections between 2010 and 2015. After years of steady decline, the Caribbean saw a nine per cent rise in annual new HIV infections among adults between 2010 and 2015.
In the Middle East and North Africa, annual new HIV infections increased by four per cent between 2010 and 2015. There has been no significant decline in any other regions of the world, according to the Report.
In Latin America, the annual number of new adult HIV infections increased by two per cent since 2010; new HIV infections declined marginally in western and central Europe and North America and in western and central Africa since 2010; new HIV infections among adults declined by four per cent in eastern and southern Africa since 2010, and by three per cent in Asia and the Pacific since 2010.
“We are sounding the alarm,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “The power of prevention is not being realized. If there is resurgence in new HIV infections now, the epidemic will become impossible to control. The world needs to take urgent and immediate action to close the prevention gap.”
The AIDS epidemic has had a huge impact over the past 35 years. Since the start of the epidemic, 35 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses and an estimated 78 million people have become infected with HIV globally.
EQUITY AND ACCESS FOR KEY POPULATIONS
In 2014, key populations, including gay men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers and their clients, transgender people, people who inject drugs and prisoners, accounted for 35 per cent of new HIV infections globally.
It is estimated that men who have sex with men are 24 times more likely to become infected with HIV than the general population, while sex workers are 10 times more likely and people who inject drugs are 24 times more likely to become infected than the general population. In addition, transgender people are 49 times more likely to be living with HIV, and prisoners are five times more likely to be living with HIV than adults in the general population. This is according to UNAIDS data.
It is essential for key populations to have access to the full range of HIV prevention options in order to protect themselves and their sexual partners from HIV.
“Today, we have multiple prevention options,” said Mr Sidibé. “The issue is access—if people do not feel safe or have the means to access combination HIV prevention services we will not end this epidemic,” he added.
The UNAIDS Global Report on the need for increased HIV prevention efforts and investments comes ahead of the International AIDS Conference set for next week in Durban, South Africa.
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