UNAIDS releases new global AIDS report

The new UNAIDS 2008 biannual report shows the number of people living with HIV has stabilised at around 33 million people. The stabilisation is partly credited to the success of HIV prevention programmes. Yet the number of people living with HIV is still at an unacceptably high level, with women facing a higher risk of infection than men, especially in many African countries.

 

Whilst a number of countries have seen a decline in the number of new HIV infections, rates are rising in many areas including Kenya, Mozambique, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, Russia and Ukraine. In developed countries such as Britain, Germany and Australia the incidence of infection is also increasing.

 

HIV is predominantly spread by heterosexual intercourse within Africa, whereas outside Africa the main routes of transmission remain amongst MSM, sex workers and intravenous drug users.

 

In the report UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot highlightes the evidence that HIV prevention programmes have played a vital role in the stabilisation of the epidemic. However, he emphasises that this stabilisation is not a signal to start celebrating. Dr Piot says that these short-term gains in prevention

"should serve as a platform for reinvigorating combination HIV prevention and treatment efforts and not spur complacency."

 

Some have recently criticised UNAIDS for its exceptional approach to AIDS and the vast amount of money it says is needed to fight the epidemic. Yet it is clear from this report that efforts to combat AIDS can prove very effective, and mucch may be gained by intensifying these initiatives.

 

(IRIN 30/07/08)