New HIV infections down 33% since 2001: UNAIDS

The combined, adult and children, new HIV infections has dropped by a third, according to new data released today in the 2013 UNAIDS Report on the global AIDS epidemic.

Public domain photo/ ChristianHeldt via Wikimedia commons

According to the report, new HIV infections among adults and children were estimated at 2.3 million in 2012, a 33% reduction since 2001.

In addition,  new HIV infections among children have been reduced to 260 000 in 2012, a reduction of 52% since 2001.

These numbers represent great progress towards reaching 2015 global targets on HIV per Millennium Development Goal 6.

Other data released through the report include the number of people accessing HIV/AIDS drugs.

By the end of 2012, some 9.7 million people in low- and middle-income countries were accessing antiretroviral therapy, an increase of nearly 20% in just one year.

In 2011, UN Member States agreed to a 2015 target of reaching 15 million people with HIV treatment. However, as countries scaled up their treatment coverage and as new evidence emerged showing the HIV prevention benefits of antiretroviral therapy, the World Health Organization set new HIV treatment guidelines, expanding the total number of people estimated to be in need of treatment by more than 10 million.

“Not only can we meet the 2015 target of 15 million people on HIV treatment—we must also go beyond and have the vision and commitment to ensure no one is left behind,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

The UNAIDS report found that despite a flattening in donor funding for HIV, which has remained near 2008 levels, individual countries’ domestic spending on the epidemic has increased, accounting for 53 percent of global HIV resources in 2012.

Total funding for the global fight against HIV and AIDS in 2012 was $18.9 billion, about $3 billion to $5 billion short of the estimated $22 billion to $24 billion needed annually by 2015.