The pace of progress in reducing new HIV infections, increasing access to treatment and ending AIDS-related deaths is slowing down according to a new report released on 15 July by UNAIDS.
The report, UNAIDS Global AIDS Update, Communities at the Centre, shows a mixed picture with some countries making impressive gains while others are experiencing rises in new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths.
Globally, around 1.7 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2018, a 16 percent decline since 2010, driven mostly by steady progress across most of Eastern and Southern Africa.
South Africa, for example, has made huge advances and successfully reduced new HIV infections by over 50 percent and AIDS-related deaths by around 40 percent since 2010. However, there have been worrying increases in new HIV infections in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (29 percent), in the Middle East and North Africa (10 percent), and in Latin America (7 percent).
The number of people newly added onto treatment every year has been steadily increasing since 2010, reaching 23.3 million of the 37.9 million people living with HIV last year. Around 770,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses, a significant reduction from the 1.7 million people who died at the peak of the epidemic in 2004.
In 2018 an estimated 37.9 million people globally were living with HIV, 23.3 people were accessing treatment, 1.7 million people became newly infected with HIV, 770,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses, 74.9 million people have become infected with HIV since the start of the epidemic, 32.0 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses since the start of the epidemic.
Global declines in AIDS-related deaths have largely been driven by progress in eastern and southern Africa and South Africa, for example, has made huge advances and successfully reduced new HIV infections by over 50 percent and AIDS-related deaths by around 40 percent since 2010.
Russia has a growing HIV epidemic and it has been largely concentrated among injecting drug users (IDU). Gigieva along with Astra are two health centres providing medical services, counselling, HIV testing, legal and psychological care. They also distribute condoms, self-test HIV kits, and clean syringes among other things~UNAIDS
