The United Nations has hailed a breakthrough in the fight against Aids with the release of figures showing that the prevalence of HIV has dropped among young people in 15 of the world’s worst-affected countries.
The news was even better in 12 of the countries, where HIV levels have fallen by 25% among people aged 15 to 24 — in response, UNAids believes, to dogged prevention campaigns warning of the dangers of HIV/Aids and the need to change sexual behaviour.
Michel Sidibé, head of UNAids, which has released the report in advance of the International Aids Conference in Vienna next week, said that young people were leading a badly needed prevention revolution, adding that authorities needed to change tack in the battle against HIV/Aids.
“We are at the defining moment now, where we need to reshape completely the Aids response,” he said. The costs of antiretroviral drugs for the millions who need them is going through the roof, Sidibé said.
Even countries such as Brazil, which made cheap Aids drugs available to all, were hitting financial problems because the first-line drugs were no longer effective enough — HIV becomes resistant over time. Thirdline drugs in Brazil now cost $19 000 per person per year. But drugs alone, even if they are affordable, would not be enough.
The UNAids report offers rare hope for a new strategy that must have prevention at its heart, even while efforts continue to make simpler, cheaper treatment available. “Young people are taking the lead, which is progress,” said Sidibé.
‘For the first time there is a correlation between [declining HIV prevalence] and behaviour.” The biggest drop was in Kenya, where HIV in 15-to 24-year-olds was down by 60% between 2000 and 2005.
There were reductions of more than a third in Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Rwanda and Lesotho. UNAids believes the progress is due to the success of efforts to persuade young people to change their sexual behaviour.
In most of the countries where research was carried out young people were waiting longer before they first had sex and were having fewer sexual partners. The use of condoms had also increased. —