Discrimination prevents access to life-saving HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services. Ending the AIDS pandemic by 2030 is possible if decisive action is taken Health
In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, new HIV infections have increased by 20 percent since 2010, and AIDS-related deaths have increased by 34 percent. This is demonstrated by new findings from the report, The Urgency of Choice: The AIDS response at a crossroads, released today by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
According to the report, a total of 1.3 million new cases of HIV were registered in 2023.
Threats to progress
The authors note that despite the challenges, the increase in the number of patients accessing health services has been a major public health achievement that has cut AIDS-related deaths by half since 2010 — from 1.3 million to 630 thousand in 2023.
At the same time, of the 39.9 million people living with HIV worldwide, 9.3 million, or almost a quarter, do not receive life-saving treatment. As a result, one person dies every minute from AIDS-related causes. Progress is being threatened by attempts to cut funding and restrict human rights, UNAIDS warns.
The report says that if If leaders take decisive action to ensure adequate resources, sustainable management and protection of human rights, by 2050 the number of people living with HIV in need of lifelong treatment will be about 29 million. However, if they choose the wrong path, the number of people who will need lifelong medical care will rise to 46 million.
Experts also note progress in preventing new HIV infections, which have fallen by 39 percent globally and 59 percent in Eastern and Southern Africa since 2010. However, the report says new cases are rising in the Middle East and North Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and Latin America.
Violence and discrimination
Gender inequality is exacerbating the risks facing girls and women and fueling the spread of the pandemic. Some regions of Africa continue to experience extremely high rates of HIV among adolescent girls and young women.
In addition, discrimination against populations such as sex workers, men who have sex with men, and people who inject drugs prevents them from accessing life-saving prevention and treatment services.
The report states that HIV prevention and treatment will be available to all those in need only if human rights are respected, unjust laws against women and marginalized populations are repealed, and discrimination is vigorously combated and violence.
UNAIDS estimates that 20 percent of HIV resources should be devoted to prevention in populations most affected by HIV , but only 2.6 percent of spending was allocated to such measures in 2023.
Resource mobilization
In 2023, total resources devoted to HIV fell 5 percent from 2022 and was $9.5 billion short of the amount needed by 2025, the report says.
The authors call for increased resource mobilization, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa are regions where funding for HIV has fallen significantly despite the growing epidemic.
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The report highlights that decisions made this year will determine the achievement of global goals to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 and implementation of a sustainable HIV response.
“Undermining solidarity between and within countries puts progress at risk, but the path to ending AIDS has been confirmed in practice, and the leaders promised to overcome it. Whether leaders deliver on their promises to end AIDS is a political and financial choice. It’s time to choose the right path,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima.