As countries mark World Aids Day Friday, the United Nations has said it's possible to wipe out the disase by 2030 – but only if communities and are given the means to do so. This comes as South Africa recorded its first significant fall in the number of people suffering from HIV.
In its annual report, the UNAIDS agency said community-led responses to the epidemic remained unrecognised, under-resourced and in some places under attack.
However the goal of bringing Aids to an end by 2030 was still possible. "Although the world is not currently on track to end Aids as a public health threat, it can get on track," the report said.
The United Nations first set out the target of ending Aids as a public health threat by 2030 back in 2015.
There are 39 million people around the world living with HIV – the virus that causes Aids. Of them, some 20 million are in eastern and southern Africa, and 6.5 million are in Asia and the Pacific.
Just over 9 million do not have access to life-saving treatment.
#AIDS is beatable. Let's finish the job by supporting communities to end this scourge in their neighbourhoods, their countries and around the world," says @UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres in his #WorldAIDSDay 2023 message. pic.twitter.com/kYW8gn8Wsl
— UNAIDS (@UNAIDS) November 30, 2023
Support gap
"Harmful laws and policies towards people at risk of HIV – including sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender people and people who use drugs – puts the communities trying to reach them with HIV services under threat," UNAIDS said.
Programmes delivered by frontline community-based organisations need full support from governments and donors to end the AIDS pandemic, it added.
Almost $21 billion was available for HIV programmes in low- and middle-income countries in 2022 – well short of the $29 billion needed by 2025.
The annual cost of treatment has come down from $25,000 per person in 1995 to less than $70 in many countries most affected by HIV.
The agency added that crackdowns on marginalised groups were obstructing frontline communities from providing HIV prevention and treatment services, while underfunding was leaving them struggling to operate holding them back from expansion.
1.3 million new infections
Last year, there were 1.3 million new HIV infections worldwide – down from the peak of 3.2 million in 1995.
In 2022, 86 percent of all people living with HIV knew their HIV status. Among them, 89 percent were accessing treatment. And among them, 93 percent were virally suppressed.
UNAIDS said that 53 percent of all people living with HIV were women and girls.
Botswana, Eswatini, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe have already achieved what are called the 95-95-95 targets in combating the pandemic.
This means that 95 percent of those living with HIV know their status; 95 percent of those who know they have HIV are on life-saving anti-retroviral treatment; and 95 percent of people on treatment to achieve viral suppression – and therefore highly unlikely to infect others.
Significant decline of HIV in South Africa
Meanwhile, South Africa has recorded its first significant fall in the number of people suffering from HIV but still remains in the grip of a sexually transmitted epidemic.
The country has been one of the worst hit in the global epidemic of the past four decades that has killed tens of millions of people.
According to the Human Sciences Research Council – a South African research agency – a survey found some 12.7 percent of the population of 62 million, about 7.8 million people, now have the human immunodeficiency virus that leads to Aids.
However, the number was down from 14 percent of the population when the last survey was carried out in 2017.
The national #HIV prevalence among all people living with #HIV in South Africa decreased from 14% in 2017 to 12.7% in 2022. #SABSSMVI #KnowYourStatus
— HSRC.ac.za (@HSRCza) November 27, 2023
Speaking to RFI, Sean Jooste explained: "We began these studies in 2002, and this is the 6th report we've published ... [and it is] the first time we've seen a drop in the number of cases.
"In the past, on the contrary, we have always seen a steady increase in the number of HIV carriers," he added.
Despite the good news, there are some worrying trends that need to be dealt with, according to Jooste, who worked on the latest survey.
"The decline in condom use is a real problem," he told RFI. "Particularly for people who have several partners. And condom use is also a problem among the younger generation. So if we want to make progress, we need to target these young people."
But South Africa has also seen significant progress – in particular, a drop in the rate of HIV infection among the younger generations.
"This is the first time we've seen such a reduction," Jooste says. "So one of our objectives, one of our priorities, is to continue, to ensure that these gains and this progress continue."
Established in 1988, World Aids Day has been held annually on 1 December.
