Home » Health » AIDS response could leap back 10 years due to COVID-19 (UNAIDS)

AIDS response could leap back 10 years due to COVID-19 (UNAIDS)

By : Laura| Keywords : ONUSIDA, side, COVID-19
French.china.org.cn| Updated on 07-07-2020-

AIDS response could jump back 10 years if COVID-19 pandemic seriously disrupts HIV response, Joint United Nations Program on HIV / AIDS (UNAIDS) said in its latest report on Monday worldwide.

According to the report, the COVID-19 pandemic has seriously disrupted the AIDS response. A total six-month interruption of HIV treatment would cause more than 500,000 additional deaths in sub-Saharan Africa next year (2020-2021).

This setback would reduce the AIDS-related death rate in the region to that of 2008, says a UN press release, adding that to combat the combined epidemics of HIV and COVID-19, UNAIDS and its partners are leading a global campaign for a universal vaccine against the new coronavirus.

Since 2015, 3.5 million HIV infections and 820,000 additional AIDS-related deaths are attributable to unfulfilled goals. They would have been avoided if the targets set for 2020 had been achieved, says UNAIDS.

The new report from the UN agency reports significant progress, but marked by large gaps, in particular in the deployment of access to antiretroviral therapy. The report highlights the urgency for countries to redouble their efforts and act quickly to treat the millions of people left behind.

According to UNAIDS, 14 countries have achieved the triple 90-90-90 target of HIV treatment (90% of people living with HIV know their HIV status, 90% of people who know they are HIV-positive are receiving antiretroviral therapy, 90% people on antiretroviral therapy have an undetectable viral load).

The deployment of antiretroviral therapy has saved millions of lives and prevented millions of new infections. Yet 690,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses last year. Of the 38 million people living with HIV, 12.6 million did not have access to this life-saving treatment.

The world has lagged far behind in preventing new HIV infections. A total of 1.7 million people have contracted the virus, more than triple the global target, UNAIDS said.

The UN agency thus urges countries to increase their investments to combat these two diseases. Investments to respond to HIV fell 7% between 2017 and 2019 to $ 18.6 billion. This setback means that the budget of $ 26.2 billion needed for an effective response to HIV by 2020 is 30% missing.


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