AIDS still substantial challenge to world although campaign forges ahead

NAIROBI - Despite progress made in confronting HIV worldwide, AIDS remains a major global public health challenge, threatening people's lives, especially in sub-Saharan Africa that is worst hit by HIV.

Overall HIV incidence rates are declining, but the total number of infections is still unacceptably high, with 1.7 million new infections in 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) data showed.

"This number is not dropping fast enough to meet the UNAIDS target of fewer than 500,000 people infected per year by 2020," said Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund).

"We are at a crucial stage in the fight against HIV," Sands told Xinhua days before the World AIDS Day, designated on Dec. 1 every year by WHO since 1988.

Progress made

Significant progress has been made as HIV new infections decline and more people living with HIV gain access to treatment, according to a new report released recently by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

New HIV infections declined by 28 percent from 2010 to 2018 in eastern and southern Africa, said the UNAIDS report.

Meanwhile, in a promising sign, the incidence rate of HIV among adolescent girls and young women aged 15-24 in the region declined from 0.8 percent in 2010 to 0.5 percent in 2018.

Particularly, the report highlighted that significant progress has been made in expanding access to treatment. As of mid-2019, about 24.5 million of the 37.9 million people living with HIV were accessing treatment.

As treatment roll-out continues, fewer people are dying of AIDS-related illnesses. In 2018, some 770,000 people died from HIV-related causes globally, WHO data showed.

"As a community leader, I am able to relate to people and understand their background better than someone from the outside," said Josephine Wanjiru, an HIV community activist in Kenya.

"I have been living openly with HIV for 25 years, so people come to me with their issues, such as HIV-related stigma, disclosure and adherence. I have never stepped back from this role as I am part of this community," said Wanjiru.

The UNAIDS report shows that when people and communities have power and agency, change happens.