The United Nations AIDS (UNAIDS) agency has achieved and exceeded its goal of providing HIV treatment to 15 million individuals before the end of 2015. The agency also revealed in a press release Tuesday that HIV infection has dropped to 35 percent, while AIDS-related deaths are down to 41 percent.
"The world has delivered on halting and reversing the AIDS epidemic," said Ban Ki-moon, U.N. Secretary-General. "Now we must commit to ending the AIDS epidemic as part of the Sustainable Development Goals."
The scenario was almost impossible to imagine 15 years ago, especially when treatment was only afforded to the rich. "We proved them wrong, and today we have 15 million people on treatment - 15 million success stories," said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS.
Most notable of UNAIDS' progress is in the treatment of children with HIV. In 2014, only 50 new HIV infections in children were reported in 85 countries, and recently, Cuba became the first country to have achieved the elimination of mother-to-child transmissions, as previously reported by HNGN.
In general, the rate of deaths due to AIDs had started dropping in 2005, while infection had been on the decline since the 1990s.
Ethiopia and South Africa, once known as high risk places, have also achieved an astounding decline at 71 percent and 58 percent respectively, according to The Economist.
This progress is expected to keep going as the U.N. will continue to channel funding and donations to the poorest countries for its AIDS programs.
"In 2000, AIDS was a death sentence. People who became infected with HIV had just a few years to live and the vast majority of children born with the virus died before they reached their fifth birthday. Against incredible odds, the pace of antiretroviral therapy scaled-up... ensuring more people remained alive and well," UNAIDS stated.
The U.N. said, however, that the next five years will prove to be more crucial as the organization aims to end AIDS epidemic by 2030.
The full report is published at UNAIDS' website.
