UN says 2024 decisive to ending Aids as health threat by 2030

GENEVA – Decisions that political leaders take in 2024 will determine whether a target to end Aids as a public health threat by 2030 can be reached, the UN said on July 22.

Figures from 2023 show a global improvement in the number of new infections and the treatment of HIV-positive patients, as well as a fall in the number of fatalities, but the United Nations’ Aids agency (UNAids) warned that such progress remains fragile.

Nearly 40 million people are living with HIV, the virus that can cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or Aids, the new UN report said.

Around 1.3 million new infections were recorded in 2023, an increase of 100,000 compared with 2022 but a significant fall since a peak of 3.3 million in 1995.

But the long-term trend is still way off a UNAids target of 330,000 new infections in 2025.

Figures for Aids-related deaths are also down, from 670,000 in 2022 to 630,000 in 2023, according to the report.

Access to antiretroviral medication is a major issue, with 30.7 million patients receiving such treatment compared with just 7.7 million in 2010.

But the figure falls far short of a target of 34 million set for 2025.

Eastern and southern Africa remain the most-affected regions, with 20.8 million people living with HIV, 450,000 infected in 2023 and 260,000 fatalities.

While recognising the progress, UNAids chief Winnie Byanyima said the world is not on the right track to reaching the agency’s 2030 objectives.

“The inequalities that drive the HIV pandemic are not being addressed sufficiently,” Ms Byanyima said in the report.

“A person dies from Aids-related causes every minute,” she added.

Stigma hampering treatment

Stigma, discrimination and sometimes criminalisation affect certain groups, resulting in much higher infection rates because people are unable to seek help and treatment without being exposed to danger.

Globally, the prevalence of Aids among people aged 15 to 49 is 0.8 per cent, but 1.3 per cent among prisoners and 2.3 per cent among women and girls aged 15 to 24 in eastern and southern Africa.

Infection rates rise further among sex workers (3 per cent), people who inject drugs (5 per cent), gay people and men who have sex with men (7.7 per cent) and transgender people (9.2 per cent).

In an interview, Ms Byanyima criticised a “well-coordinated, well-resourced pushback” against LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) rights, reproductive rights and gender equality.

While some countries of sub-Saharan Africa have seen new infections fall by more than half since 2010, Ms Byanyima noted that “we also have regions such as Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Latin America where we see new infections moving in the wrong direction and rising”, with stigma pushing people away from health services.

In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, only half of people with HIV are treated, while the figure is 49 per cent for the Middle East and North Africa.

Ahead of the 25th International Aids Conference that opened in Munich, Germany, on July 22, Ms Byanyima and UN human rights chief Volker Turk published a joint statement last week.

“Stigma kills. Solidarity saves lives,” they said.

They added: “Together, we call on all countries to remove all punitive laws against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. Decriminalisation of LGBTQ+ people is vital for protecting everyone’s human rights and everyone’s health.” AFP