The AIDS epidemic: the beginning of the end?
UNAIDS: There is a huge gap in access to HIV treatment/AIDS
According to a report published yesterday by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), by 2030, humanity will be able to end the AIDS epidemic. However, in some countries, progress is not yet noticeable. For example, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Nigeria, the Russian Federation, the Central African Republic and South Sudan, there is a triple threat: a large burden of HIV infections, low coverage of antiretroviral therapy and a slight reduction in the number of new infections.
Nikola Krastev asked Snezhana Kolomiets from the UNAIDS regional office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia to tell more about the report.
SK: The fact that more than half of HIV carriers do not know about their status is one of the serious, main conclusions of the report, but there are much more of them. The fact is that this report is very serious, voluminous, global, it has more than 400 pages. It is dedicated not just to figures and statistics regarding the HIV epidemic/AIDS – global, regional, country – but also those problems that hinder serious progress and the gaps that exist in the world in countering the HIV epidemic/AIDS. And that's just the lack of the necessary level of awareness of the problem – despite the fact that the HIV epidemic/AIDS has been around for more than 30 years – it still remains relevant.
In general, these are, of course, quite serious figures, that is, it turns out that 19 million out of 35 – the total number of HIV carriers in the world – still do not know about their status. And this is a huge, serious problem. But in addition to this gap, the report is devoted to large gaps and gaps, both gaps and gaps and the difference in the epidemic, and in the difference in the measures taken to counteract it, and in the gaps in existing programs and efforts. The analysis is very serious, very interesting, a lot of unexpected, in fact, conclusions and statistics.
But what is important, what needs to be said at the very beginning – despite many such rather sad conclusions – the report is still very optimistic because for the first time in 30 years of the epidemic we are talking about the possibility of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030. That is, we can say that we can talk about the beginning of the end of the AIDS epidemic. This is a rather serious, global conclusion of this report.
A few more words about the global gaps that the report analyzes. In addition to this huge difference between the number of people living with HIV and people who know about their status, there is also a huge gap between the number of people who live with HIV and have access to treatment and those who do not have access to treatment. Thus, the number of people who still do not have access to HIV treatment reaches 22 million out of 35 million people living with HIV. This is a huge figure and, of course, this is the main direction to which UNAIDS calls for great attention to be devoted at all levels – at the state, interstate and regional.
There is a huge global gap in the number of children living with HIV – more than three million children under 15 years of age live with HIV in the world. Of these three million children, 2.5 million do not have access to HIV treatment. This is also a huge figure that requires serious attention.
As a matter of fact, I will probably give one more figure, so as not to overload statistics, I would voice it – this figure is quite positive, important and interesting. This figure is "zero" – zero difference between the life expectancy among people aged 50 and older who are living with HIV and who have received treatment and, on the other hand, the life expectancy among people not infected with this virus. This is a very important element of understanding the need to provide treatment to people living with HIV. That is, in fact, a person who starts treatment on time, who receives continuous, high-quality treatment, lives on average as long as an uninfected person. This confirms once again the need to test on time, detect HIV cases on time and start treatment on time.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru17.07.2014