By Kemo Cham
Despite gains in medication, which has cut down on the rate of deaths to AIDS, the rate of infection of the HIV virus is still at a worryingly high level, a new study has revealed.
The study shows that 2.5 million people are still becoming infected with the virus that causes AIDS HIV every year.
The findings released to coincide with ongoing international HIV/AIDS conference in South Africa shows that new infections have stagnated after a major leap from the peak rate of 3.3 million in 1997.
The South African city of Durban is hosting the International AIDS conference which was designed to assess progress in fighting the three decades old epidemic which has killed over 30 million people worldwide.
Haidong Wang, lead author of the report and a professor from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, Seattle, wrote in an analysis in The Lancet HIV journal that the report painted "a worrying picture of slow progress in reducing new HIV infections."
This means that AIDS is not over, noted renowned scientist Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and founding executive director of UNAIDS.
"New infections of HIV in the world is probably the most disturbing factor that has been announced here at the conference," Piot, credited for being a co-discoverer of the deadly Ebola virus, was quoted Tuesday saying.
Already concerns are being raised about the potential danger funding shortages for HIV/AIDS response may have on this situation.
"In 2015, (funding) fell below the level spent in 2014, and in many low-income countries, resources for health are scarce and expected to grow slowly, if at all," Wang told a press conference on the sidelines of the Durban conference.
An estimated $36 billion is needed yearly for the world to achieve its goal of ending AIDS by 2030. And this requires massive increase in efforts from governments and international agencies, said campaigners.
UNAIDS figures show that some 38.8 million people are living with the HIV virus globally, representing an increase from 28 million in 2000. This was partly credited for the breakthrough in producing the life-prolonging antiretroviral therapy (ART).
Also, annual deaths from AIDS have declined from a peak of 1.8 million in 2005 to 1.2 million in 2015.
AIDS has no cure or vaccine. But the ART are able to suppress the virus, so that people carrying it live a long life. A downside is that the drugs are expensive, especially for people in the developing world, and can also have side effects.
The study released on Tuesday also shed light on how the use of antiretrovirals has grown, from 6.4 per cent of infected men in 2005 to 38.6 per cent ten years later, and from 3.3 per cent to 42.4 per cent for women over the same period.
Nonetheless, concerns of a flare-up remain intact.
The UNAIDS has a target to ensure that by the year 2020, 90 per cent of all people living with HIV will have known their status, and 90 per cent of these people will have been on ART. This is in line with World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation that anybody diagnosed with HIV should be put on antiretroviral drugs as soon as possible, to keep them well and because the medication prevents them infecting others.
But this study finds that most countries were still far from achieving this.
Still sub-Saharan African remains the major hub of new HIV infections, as it were. In 2015, the report indicates, 1.8 million new HIV infections, representing 75 per cent of total new infections, were recorded in the region. This is followed by 8.5 per cent in south Asia.
"The highest rates of infection were in southern Africa, with more than one per cent of the population per year becoming infected in Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland," the report said.
In Europe, the highest rate of new infections is in Russia and Ukraine.
Complacency
In a statement at the start of the week-long conference (18-22 July), WHO warned against complacency; it called for new attention to prevention and warned of growing resistance to the antiretroviral drugs.
“The enormous progress on HIV, particularly on treatment, is one of the big public health success stories of the century,” said Dr Margaret Chan, director general of the WHO. “But this is no time for complacency. If the world is to achieve its goal of ending Aids by 2030, it must rapidly expand and intensify its efforts,” she added.
This is the 21st edition of the conference which takes place every two years, organized by the International AIDS Society (IAS) and a consortium of about half a dozen other organizations.
It is being held on the theme: “Access Equity Rights Now”.
It is a call to action to work together and reach the people who still lack access to comprehensive treatment, prevention, care and support services.
This is the second time Durban is hosting the conference.
© Politico 20/07/16
