AIDS deaths keep dropping, but drug resistance is higher

More people with HIV treating it as manageable illness.

The world has made major progress in the fight against AIDS — an epidemic that over the last four decades has killed 35 million people — as increasing numbers of people gain access to life-saving treatment and the number of deaths each year fall dramatically.

But there have also been setbacks, most significantly growing resistance to the drugs.

The latest statistics came out this week in two reports, one by the United Nations AIDS agency, the other by the World Health Organization.

Here’s the epidemic today, by the numbers:

36.7 million

The number of people with HIV worldwide. This figure is up from 36.1 million in 2015, largely because of the success in transforming the virus from a death sentence into a manageable illness.

19.5 million

The number of people on anti-retroviral drugs used to suppress the HIV virus. The figure, up from 17.1 million in 2015, represents 53 percent of those infected.

1 million

The number of AIDS-related deaths last year. This figure is down from 1.9 million in 2005, a 47 percent decline.

1.8 million

The number of new HIV infections last year. That figure is down 16 percent since 2010. One big factor driving new infections: People ages 15 to 24 are lagging behind the rest of the population when it comes to knowledge of HIV and testing, treatment and prevention. In addition, men are less likely than women to know their HIV status or start treatment.

19.4 million

The number of people with HIV in eastern and southern Africa, the places hardest hit by the epidemic. That’s 53 percent of all infections worldwide.

11.7 million

The number of people on anti-retroviral drugs in eastern and southern Africa. That figure, up from 10.3 million in 2015, represents 60 percent of those who are infected, a rate that’s higher than the world average.

420,000

The number of AIDS-related deaths in eastern and southern Africa last year. That figure, which represents 42 percent of the deaths worldwide, is down 42 percent since 2010.