“Therefore, a massive scale-up of efforts from governments and global agencies will be required to meet the estimated $36 billion needed every year to realize the goal of ending AIDS by 2030, along with better detection and treatment programs and improving the affordability of antiretroviral drugs”, Murray said.
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Hundreds of people living with HIV in the U.S. have been charged with criminal offences for the perceived or potential risk of HIV exposure or transmission.
AIDS epidemic was in its prime during the 1980s and 1990s.
But they point out: “In the past decade, progress in reducing new infections has been slow, development assistance for health devoted to HIV has stagnated, and resources for health in low-income countries have grown slowly”. This provides a comprehensive analysis of HIV incidence, prevalence and deaths for 195 counties between 1980 and 2015.
The findings are likely to cause great relief in developing countries like Zimbabwe, where new infections are still a burden, particularly among young people.
By 2020, it wants 90 percent of people with HIV to know their status, 90 percent of diagnosed people to be on treatment, and 90 percent of those on treatment to have suppressed levels of the virus in their bodies.
The results challenge criminalisation laws that in many countries, including Scotland, continue to criminalise HIV positive people on assumptions of them being a risk which this study results clearly disprove, even when condoms are used and viral load is undetectable.
In 2011, interim study results demonstrated significant benefit of early ART, with a 96 percent reduction in HIV transmission from early ART compared to delayed ART.
The number of HIV infections in Pakistan grew at an average of 17.6 percent a year from 8,360 to 45,990 during the period under review.
The HPTN 052 results have helped to galvanize a worldwide commitment to a universal “treatment as prevention” strategy for combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic, with ART offered to all HIV-infected people, regardless of CD4 cell count. However, in some Eastern European and South Asian nations, the percentage of men using ART is as much as 50% higher than women.
“The confidentiality of the personal and health information of anyone seeking HIV or other medical services must be safeguarded”, it said in a statement late Monday. “The estimates are also key to strengthening accountability to ensure that promises made by politicians and policymakers with regard to specific HIV targets are being delivered”.
The report also shows that the number of people dying from HIV/AIDS has steadily declined, from a peak of 1.8 million deaths (95% UI 1.7-1.9 million) in 2005, to 1.2 million deaths (95% UI 1.1-1.3 million) in 2015.
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The results of IHME’s study underscore the need for more effective efforts to prevent new infections, as well as additional funding for these efforts. With slowdown in the decline of new infections and in funding for HIV/AIDS, it will be challenging to achieve the goal set by the global community to end AIDS by 2030.
