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GREATER ACTION NEEDED TO TACKLE AIDS Print E-mail

GREATER ACTION NEEDED TO TACKLE AIDS

New Delhi, 27 November 2006

NEW DELHI, November 28 (INFA): While the AIDS epidemic appears to be slowing down globally, new infections are continuing to increase in certain regions and countries.  But greater action is required to control the dreaded disease, according to the latest data in the UNAIDS 2006 Report on the global AIDS epidemic.

The report also shows that important progress has been made in country AIDS responses, including increases in funding and access to treatment, and decreases in HIV prevalence among young people in some countries over the past five years. However, AIDS remains an exceptional threat.

The response is diverse with some countries doing well on treatment but poorly on HIV prevention efforts and vice-versa. It indicates that a number of significant challenges remain. Among these are the need for improved planning, sustained leadership and reliable long-term funding for the AIDS response.

An estimated 38.6 million people are living with HIV worldwide. Approximately 4.1 million people became newly infected with HIV, while approximately 2.8 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses in 2005. While the epidemic’s toll remains massive, experts finds reasons for optimism, as well as guidance for how to improve the AIDS response, in the new report.

Encouraging results in HIV prevention and treatment indicate a growing return on investments made in the AIDS response, according to UNAIDS Executive Director.

“We are reaching a critical mass in terms of improvements in funding, political leadership and results on the ground, from which global action against AIDS can and must be greatly accelerated. The actions we take from here are particularly important, as we know with increasing certainty where and how HIV is moving, as well as how to slow the epidemic and reduce its impact”.

The report cites significant improvements in several elements of the global AIDS response.  In the key area of financial resources, the $8.3 billion available for the AIDS response in 2005 was more than five times the funding available in 2001, and was well within the Declaration of Commitment target range.

The report also cites significant increases in global political leadership, which key to maintaining the AIDS response at the centre of national and international development planning.

On HIV prevention, the report documents behaviour changes including delays in first sexual experience, increasing use of condoms by young people, and resulting decreases in HIV prevalence in young people in some sub-Saharan countries.

The report also makes clear that on many issues and in most regions of the world greater action against the epidemic is required now, and will be required long into the future.  Today’s speakers emphasized that upcoming goals related to universal access to HIV treatment and the 2010 UN goal of halting and beginning to reverse the epidemic will require much greater action moving forward. ----INFA

 

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