Aids-related deaths in decline, says UN report

More people are living with Aids but fewer are dying

Executive Director of UNAIDS Michel Sidibe speaks during a press conference to present UNDAIDS's latest figures on the AIDS epidemic at the Paris City Hall on July 20, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / ALAIN JOCARD
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The scales have tipped for the first time in the fight against Aids as more than half of all people living with the HIV virus now have access to treatment, while Aids-related deaths have nearly halved since 2005, according to a new United Nations report.

"We met the 2015 target of 15 million people on treatment and we are on track to double that number to 30 million and meet the 2020 target," said Michel Sidibe, executive director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAIDS). "We will continue to scale up to reach everyone in need and honour our commitment of leaving no one behind," he added.

The UNAIDS report,  titled 'Ending Aids: Progress Towards the 90–90–90 targets', gives a comprehensive analysis of the 2014 targets to accelerate progress so that by 2020, 90 per cent of all HIV-infected people know their status, 90 percent of all those diagnosed with HIV are accessing antiretroviral therapy (ART) and 90 percent of those taking ART are virally suppressed.

It states that last year, 19.5 million of the 36.7 million people living with HIV had access to treatment and Aids-related deaths have fallen from 1.9 million in 2005 to one million in 2015.  With continued expansion in access, and at this rate of progres, the world is on track to reach the global target of 30 million people on treatment by 2020, according to the report.