UNAIDS: 50 percent drop in new HIV infections across 25 countries

A new World AIDS Day report by the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) shows that a more than 50 percent reduction in the rate of new HIV infections has been achieved across 25 low- and middle-income countries –– more than half in Africa, the region most affected by HIV.

“The pace of progress is quickening—what used to take a decade is now being achieved in 24 months,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

“We are scaling up faster and smarter than ever before. It is the proof that with political will and follow through we can reach our shared goals by 2015,” he said.

The area where perhaps most progress is being made is in reducing new HIV infections in children. Half of the global reductions in new HIV infections in the last two years have been among newborn children.

“It is becoming evident that achieving zero new HIV infections in children is possible,” said Sidibé. “I am excited that far fewer babies are being born with HIV. We are moving from despair to hope.”

In the last two years, new HIV infections in children decreased by 24 percent.

There are also fewer AIDS-related deaths as anti-retroviral therapy has emerged as a powerful force for saving lives. There were more than half a million fewer deaths in 2011 than in 2005. The largest drops in AIDS-related deaths are being seen in countries where HIV has the strongest grip. South Africa, Kenya, and Ethiopia.  Read More