According to UNAIDS, the global response to HIV is suffering from a worrying slowdown in progress in recent years. In question, the global crises, including the Covid, and a reduction in resources over the past two years. The fate of millions of people is affected.
We already knew that, and the new report, “In Danger”, of the UNAIDSpresented ahead of the International AIDS Conference held in Montreal, Canadaconfirms it: the covid A coronavirus disease, sometimes called covid (following the English acronym of coronavirus disease) is a disease caused by a coronavirus (CoV). The term may refer to the following illnesses: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) caused by the SARS-CoV virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) caused by the MERS-CoV virus, Coronavirus disease 2019 ( Covid-19) caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. and global crises are jeopardizing the response to the like Acquired immune deficiency syndrome. In English, AIDS, acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome..
The number of new infections in HIV Human immunodeficiency virus. In English: HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). Isolated in 1983 at the Pasteur Institute in Paris; recently discovered (2008) rewarded with the Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded to Luc Montagnier and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi. to fell just 3.6% between 2020 and 2021, the lowest annual decline since 2016. “These data show that the global AIDS response is in grave jeopardy. If we don’t make rapid progress, we are losing ground, as the pandemic thrives in the context of the COVID-19 A coronavirus disease, sometimes called covid (following the English acronym of coronavirus disease) is a disease caused by a coronavirus (CoV). The term may refer to the following illnesses: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) caused by the SARS-CoV virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) caused by the MERS-CoV virus, Coronavirus disease 2019 ( Covid-19) caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus., mass displacement and other crises. Let’s not forget the millions of preventable deaths we are trying to prevent.”said UNAIDS Director Winnie Byanyima.
For several years, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America have seen an increase in annual HIV infections. In Asia-Pacific, the world’s most populous region, current UNAIDS data show an upsurge in new HIV infections where they had fallen. In Eastern and Southern Africa, the positive momentum has slowed considerably in 2021 following years of significant progress. Only new HIV infections in West and Central Africa and the Caribbean are falling significantly.
A worrying drop in resources
The HIV response everywhere is threatened by diminishing resources from global governments. In 2021, international financial resources available for HIV were 6% lower than in 2010. Overseas development assistance for HIV provided by bilateral donors, excluding the United States of America, fell by 57 % over the last decade. The HIV response in low- and middle-income countries is $8 billion short of the level needed by 2025 to meet the goals.
Global crises are also destabilizing the HIV response: Debt repayments for the world’s poorest countries have reached 171% of all spending on health, education and social protection combined. Domestic funding for the HIV response in low- and middle-income countries has been declining for two years. The war in Ukraine has caused a dramatic increase in world food prices, increasing food insecurity for HIV-positive people around the world and making HIV treatment disruptions much more likely.
Access to treatment hindered
The UNAIDS report also reports that access to treatment for people living with HIV is no longer improving as rapidly as before: In 2021, the increase in the number of people on antiretroviral treatment was the smallest for more than ten years.
Today, three quarters of people living with HIV have access to antiretroviral treatment, around 10 million others do not have access to it, and only 52% of HIV-positive children have access to drugs.
This slowdown in the progress needed to fight HIV has translated into around 1.5 million new HIV infections in 2021, more than 1 million more than the global epidemic targets.
In 2021, 650,000 people died from HIV infection, despite the existence of effective HIV treatment and effective means of prevention.