UN says 2024 decisive to ending AIDS as health threat

Decisions political leaders take this year will be decisive whether a target to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 can be reached, the United Nations said on Monday.

Figures from 2023 show a global improvement in the number of new infections, the treatment of HIV-positive patients and a fall in the number of fatalities, but UNAIDS warned such progress remains fragile.

Nearly 40 million people are living with HIV, the virus that can cause AIDS, the new UN report said.

Around 1.3 million new infections were recorded last year, a decline of 100,000 compared to 2022 and a significant fall since a peak of 3.3 million in 1995.

But the long-term trend is still way off a UNAIDS target of 330,000 new infections next year.

Figures for AIDS-related deaths are also down, from 670,000 in 2022 to 630,000 last year, according to the report.

Access to anti-retroviral medication is a major issue, with 30.7 million patients receiving such treatment compared to just 7.7 million in 2010. But the figure falls far short of a target of 34 million set for 2025.

Eastern and southern Africa remain the most-affected regions, with 20.8 people living with HIV, 450,000 infected last year and 260,000 fatalities.

While recognising the progress, UNAIDS chief Winnie Byanyima said the world is not on the right track to reaching the agency’s 2030 objectives.

“The inequalities that drive the HIV pandemic are not being addressed sufficiently,” Byanyima said in the report.