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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