Pandemic hit HIV treatment: UN report
NEWDELHI: At the end of 2019, there were 38 million people living with HIV, which causes AIDS, across the world, according to the United Nation’s annual report released on Monday. Of them, 7.1 million did not know that they were infected, the report said.
Around 1.7 million people were infected by HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) in 2019 alone, said the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/ AIDS (Unaids) report, adding that the progress in prevention, diagnosis and treatment was being impacted by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. About 2.8 million people were infected in 1998, when HIV/AIDS peaked.
“The response could be set back further, by 10 years or more, if the Covid-19 pandemic results in severe disruptions to HIV services,” the report said. Till date, HIV has infected 75.7 million and 32.7 have died due to AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome)-related illnesses.
In 2019, 690,000 people died of Aids-related illnesses, and 12.6 million people with HIV were not on life-saving antiretroviral therapy used to treat HIV/AIDS.
“Stigma and discrimination and widespread inequalities are major barriers to ending
AIDS...EVERY day in the next decade, decisive action is needed to get the world back on track to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030,” said Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Unaids. Around 62% of the new HIV infections in 2019 occurred among vulnerable sections and their sexual partners, including men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who inject drugs and people in prison, despite them constituting a very small proportion of the general population.
“This is the first time Unaids has admitted to a collective failure of countries and multinational agencies in failing to meet the 2020 targets. Countries have not focused enough on prevention, which has gone down. The increasing emphasis in treatment is needed but not at the cost of prevention in key vulnerable populations, who account for 62% of the new infections,” said JVR Prasada Rao, former health secretary and founder director of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).
In India, there were 2.14 million people living with HIV at the end of 2017 (the last year for which data was released) with new infections rising in Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Uttarakhand, and declining in Nagaland, Manipur, Delhi and Chhattisgarh.