The number of new HIV infections and deaths has declined worldwide, marking significant progress in the fight against the disease. But ahead of World AIDS Day on Sunday, health experts have warned that HIV is far from gone.
uneven progress
During 2010, the number of HIV infections worldwide declined by a fifth percent, according to a major study published Tuesday in The Lancet HIV journal.
HIV-related deaths, which are usually caused by other diseases during the late stages of AIDS, dropped by about 40 percent to less than one million per year, the study said.
The decline was mainly due to improving rates in sub-Saharan Africa, the region hardest hit so far by the global pandemic.
However, infections did not decline everywhere. Other regions such as Eastern Europe and the Middle East saw increases in HIV numbers.
And the world is a long way from the United Nations’ goal of virtually eliminating AIDS-related deaths by 2030, the researchers said.
“The world has made remarkable global progress in substantially reducing the number of new HIV infections,” said lead study author Hamwei Qu of the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
“More than one million people acquire new HIV infections each year and a quarter of the 40 million people living with HIV are not receiving treatment,” he said in a statement.
– Effective tool –
Preventive treatment called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has proven to be a powerful tool in the fight against HIV.
These daily pills reduce the risk of contracting HIV from sex by about 99 percent.
They have helped reduce HIV rates in many countries. In some countries, such as France, health officials are urging that PrEP be made available to more people, rather than just men who have sex with men.
“This is something that can be used by anyone who needs it at some point in their sexual life,” French infectious disease expert Pierre Delobelle told a news conference.
For people who are infected with HIV, antiretroviral therapy can reduce the amount of virus in their blood to undetectable levels.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, undetectable viral loads mean that breastfeeding mothers have less than a one percent chance of passing HIV to their babies.
New medicine raises hopes
These devices have worked well in rich countries but high costs mean that poorer countries – such as Africa – are often left behind.
There are fears that this history could be repeated for a new drug that has been touted as a potential game-changer in the fight against HIV.
Early trials have found that the antiretroviral treatment lenacapavir is 100 percent effective in preventing HIV infection. And it only needs to be injected twice a year, making the drug far easier to administer than current regimens that require daily pills.
US pharmaceutical giant Gilead is charging about $40,000 per person per year for the treatment in several countries.
But researchers estimating the drug could be made for as little as $40 have called on Gilead to allow cheaper access in hard-hit countries.
Last month, Gilead announced that it had signed licensing agreements with six generic drugmakers to produce and sell lencapavir in low-income countries.
While experts largely welcomed the move, some noted that millions of people living with HIV live in countries that are not party to the agreement.
It is also hoped that the twice-a-year injections will help tackle another problem for administering HIV drugs – the stigma that comes with having the disease.
What about the vaccine?
Despite decades of effort, an HIV vaccine is not yet available.
But Andrew Hill, a researcher at the University of Liverpool, UK, told AFP earlier this year that the lencapavir shot “is basically like taking a vaccine”.
A handful of patients have also been effectively cured of HIV.
But this treatment only comes after a patient has endured a brutal stem cell transplant for their leukemia, so it’s not an option for almost all people living with HIV.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
