Still long way to go in fight against AIDS

Antiretroviral drugs have greatly cut the AIDS death rate in the wealthier nations. That has definitely not been the case in the poorer countries, especially in some of sub-Saharan Africa.

The breathless media coverage of actor Charlie Sheen’s revelation that he has contracted HIV should serve as a stark reminder, as if we needed one, that the virus that causes AIDS is still very much a threat.

It is ironic that this announcement occurred — however begrudgingly — just days before World AIDS Day, which is Tuesday.

Since 1988, Dec. 1 has been the day set aside by the World Health Organization to highlight one of its eight global public health campaigns. With a red ribbon as its global sign of solidarity, the day is meant to raise awareness about the pandemic and mourn those who have died from the disease. It’s a good time to do a status check.

While this year the news about the global fight is better than it has been, it is still far from good. But the numbers do show that progress is being made.

According to UNAIDS, the international agency charged with combating the disease, the number of people who died from AIDS in 2014 was down by more than 100,000 from the year before and down nearly 800,000 from the peak in 2005.

Don’t break out the champagne. There remain 36.9 million people infected worldwide — a staggering number that signals many more years of struggle.

Antiretroviral drugs have greatly cut the AIDS death rate in the wealthier nations. That has definitely not been the case in the poorer countries, especially in some of sub-Saharan Africa. But even there, the death rate is falling.

Last year, more than $20 billion was raised for fighting AIDS in poor and middleincome countries. This year the figure could be as high as $24 billion.

The hope is that by 2020, 90 percent of those infected at least will be aware of it; 90 percent of those who are aware will have received treatment; and, for 90 percent of those being treated, the drugs actually will have the intended effect of suppressing the patient’s viral load — the amount of HIV in a bodily fluid — to the point of being undetectable. Suppressing viral load not only stops the life-threatening symptoms of AIDS from appearing but also makes it much less likely that an infected individual will pass the virus on.

Meeting those noble goals would effectively cut the impact by nearly 75 percent. But even if the goals can be reached, millions still will be suffering and millions more at risk. We’ve still got a long way to go.