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Geneva (awp / ats) – HIV targets set for this year will not be met. Covid is worsening the situation and could cause up to more than 150,000 additional deaths in three years. UNAIDS launched three new approaches for 2025 in Geneva on Thursday.
“Progress in recent years is under threat,” executive director Winnie Byanyima told reporters. But the coronavirus isn’t the only cause. “The global response to HIV was delayed even before the Covid pandemic,” adds Ms. Byanyima.
However, the situation has further worsened with the coronavirus, although some countries have managed to limit the effects of the pandemic. Fewer people were detected and less care was provided. So much so that, says UNAIDS, Covid could be responsible this year and the next two from 125,000 to over 290,000 additional cases and from 69,000 to 150,000 deaths that could be prevented.
The multi-year targets sought to reduce new cases and deaths to 500,000 each by the end of the year. However, according to the world report on HIV published Thursday, the number of infections is more than 3.5 million and that of deaths hundreds of thousands more than expected.
Tens of millions of infected people
At the end of June there was also a lack of access to benefits for four million people compared to the willingness to support 30 million. During the first months of the pandemic, the number of patients requesting treatment increased by half from the previous year.
Last year, more than 1.6 million people were infected and nearly 700,000 died from the disease. An “unacceptable” situation, according to UNAIDS, while the prevention and treatment mechanisms are accessible.
In total, nearly 39 million people are now living with HIV. And 12 million are awaiting treatment. Progress in sub-Saharan Africa has been mitigated by increases in cases elsewhere. And investments have been insufficient, insists the report released Thursday.
Meeting at the United Nations General Assembly
Faced with these figures, UNAIDS announces a new mechanism which, if achieved, would make possible the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of reducing HIV infections and deaths by 90% by 2030. In total, this – this provides that 95% of people know they are sick and that 95% of them are cured. And 95% of them must therefore be eliminated by the virus.
Another desire is that 95% of women have access to sexual and reproductive health care. These goals also stipulate that less than 10% of countries should rely on punitive laws and policies, less than 10% of those affected should be discriminated against and less than 10% be victims of inequality and sexual violence. . These goals should reduce new infections to fewer than 500,000 and deaths to around 300,000 by 2025.
Current collective pandemic efforts to ease blockages and restrictions could be helpful against HIV, UNAIDS adds. No country can fight this disease and Covid without cooperation, says Ms Byanyima, who is asking for the involvement of many actors. He also adds that the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly next June will be an “important time” for member states to get busy.
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