Efforts to curb the Aids pandemic are beginning to pay off and the world is beginning to see a reversal in the spread of the syndrome. This was revealed in a global report released by the United Nations on Thursday.
According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and Aids (UNAids), the global number of people newly infected with HIV is declining and Aids-related deaths are decreasing. The report showed that an estimated 2,6-million people became newly-infected with HIV in 2009. This was a 20% drop from the 3,1-million people infected in 1999.
“The report gives new evidence that investments in HIV prevention programming are producing significant results in many of the highest burden countries,” the organisation said.
Condom use and availability have increased significantly over the past few years and the number of people on treatment has increased seven and a half times in the last five years. Globally over 5,2-million people now have access to life-saving antiretroviral treatment, compared to 700Â 000 in 2004.
Professor Sheila Tlou, director of the UNAids regional support team for Eastern and Southern Africa, said the report showed that people in sub-Saharan Africa were now living longer lives and fewer children are contracting the virus. “The efforts of anti-retroviral therapy are really evident especially in our region of the world.”
Africa still bears the brunt
However, Eastern and Southern Africa remain the epicentre of HIV.
According to UNAids, 1,8-million people were newly infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa in 2009. This is more than twice as many people as were infected in the rest of the world combined last year. In addition, more than 70% of the 1,8-million deaths due to Aids last year, occurred in sub-Saharan Africa.
But Tlou warned that the battle is not yet won. “Even though the rate of HIV-infection is decreasing, there is still a need for prevention because there are two new infections for every one person put on treatment,” she said.
Tlou also pointed out that 50% of new infections are acquired within marriage or cohabitation. According to Tlou, the prevalence of sero-discordant couples, where one person is HIV positive and the other is not, is very high in sub-Saharan Africa, at a rate of between 35% and 85%. Because of this, Tlou said, there is a serious need for couples counselling and testing to ensure that couples can access services like prevention, treatment, care and support.
Human rights still not guaranteed
Nonkosi Khumalo, chairperson of the Treatment Action Campaign, welcomed the news that the epidemic is stabilising and even reversing in some areas. However, she said, human rights is still an issue that needs to be addressed as part of the global response to Aids.
The UN report said that although most countries acknowledge human rights in their Aids strategies, punitive laws that criminalise same-sex relationships continue to hamper access to Aids-related services.
Khumalo said she found it disturbing when 79 states, mainly from Arab and African countries, last week voted to remove a reference to sexual orientation from a UN resolution condemning unjustified killings. South Africa’s UN delegation also voted to have the reference removed.
“What was disturbing for me was that it was lead by largely African leaders,” she said. “We want to say all the right things but we’re failing to put into practice things that could and should work.”
Khumalo said states would not be able to curb the impact of Aids unless they take into consideration marginalised groups, like sex workers and homosexual men.
“The road is still very long and activists will continue to push for human rights,” she said.