WHO poised to end AIDS epidemic by 2030

MANILA, Philippines - The AIDS epidemic is seen to end by 2030 if the progress in treating the disease over the past 15 years can be sustained and accelerated, a new World Health Organization (WHO) report showed.

WHO’s Global Health Sector Response to HIV 2000-2015 report noted that much has been achieved to reverse the spread of HIV. The report cited the Millennium Development Goal that called for halting and reversing the spread of HIV on a global basis, which had been met.

The number of HIV deaths had been reduced by 42 percent– from a peak of more than two million in 2004 to an estimated 1.2 million in 2014 – the report stated.

“Since 2000, an estimated 7.8 million lives had been saved, fewer people are acquiring HIV and projections of an end to the epidemic by 2030 – a goal once considered unattainable by many experts – are now realistic,” the report added.

The WHO said the rapid scale-up of access to antiretroviral therapy (ART), which it considered as one of the greatest public health achievements in recent times, has made treatment available to more than 16 million people living with HIV across the globe.

More than 11 million people in Africa alone are receiving HIV treatment as against only 11,000 who took the medication 15 years ago. The figures represent a thousand-fold increase, the WHO said.

The WHO said much remains to be done, noting that 60 percent of people with HIV have not yet enrolled in antiretroviral treatment.

WHO regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said new HIV infections in Africa in the last 15 years decreased by 41 percent, more than in any region in the world.

“But the number of people acquiring HIV infection is still too high and young women and adolescent girls continue to be disproportionately at risk,” Moeti said.

The WHO said recent clinical trials have confirmed that early and expanded use of antiretroviral treatment saves lives by keeping people living with HIV healthier and reducing the risk that they will transmit the virus to partners.

With such confirmation, WHO recommended in September that all HIV-positive people start ART as soon as possible.

At the international conference on AIDS and sexually transmitted infections in Zimbabwe, which starts today, WHO is presenting a set of recommendations to enable countries to expand treatment rapidly and efficiently.