UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, is an
innovative joint venture of the United Nations family, bringing
together the efforts and resources of ten UN system organizations in
the AIDS response to help the world prevent new HIV infections, care
for people living with HIV, and mitigate the impact of the epidemic.
With
its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the UNAIDS Secretariat works
on the ground in more than 80 countries worldwide. Coherent action on
AIDS by the UN system is coordinated in countries through the UN theme
groups, and the joint programmes on AIDS.
UNAIDS helps mount and support an expanded response to AIDS – one that
engages the efforts of many sectors and partners from government and
civil society.
UNAIDS publishes a new "Report on the global AIDS epidemic" every two
years. The Report draws upon and publishes the best available data from
countries and provides an overview and commentary on the epidemic and
the international response.
To download the entire Epi Update for 2008 click here. Below you will find the summary report.
Letterhead2color_A4.indd
UNAIDS 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic
Prevention
• In the last two years, good progress has been made in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
The percentage of pregnant women living with HIV who received antiretroviral treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission increased from 9% in 2004 to 33% in 2007.
Countries such as Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and South Africa have experienced increases in coverage of prevention of mother-to-child transmission services.
• The scaling up of HIV prevention programmes globally is paramount.
The latest data collected from 64 countries indicate that fewer than 40% of young people have basic information about HIV.
There are positive signs of improvement in all 18 of the most heavily affected countries where there is data on changes in key behaviours – sex before 15, multiple partnerships and condom use – but in only 2 countries (Cameroon and Zambia) have improving trends in all three behaviours been found.
• For people most at risk, since 2005 we have seen a tripling of HIV prevention efforts focused on sex workers, men who have sex with men and people who inject drugs.
Discrimination remains a barrier to prevention access for most at risk populations; while conversely, countries which protect these populations from discrimination tend to reach more of them with HIV prevention programmes.
• The number of new HIV infections continues to outstrip the advances made in treatment numbers—for every two people put on antiretroviral drugs, another five become newly infected.
Treatment
• Nearly 3 million people were receiving antiretroviral treatment in low- and middle-income countries at the end of 2007. This represents 31% of estimated global need and a 45% improvement over 2006.
• Globally, treatment coverage is higher for women than men.
• But children are not benefiting equally as adults. In sub-Saharan Africa, children living with HIV are about one third as likely to receive antiretroviral therapy as adults.
• Increases in treatment have been extraordinary in many countries. – Namibia scaled up treatment from 1% in 2003 to 88% in 2007, and similarly for Rwanda, from 3% to 71% in the same period. – Botswana has achieved one of the world’s highest coverage rates of HIV treatment, delivering drugs in 2007 to more than 90% of those who need them.
• After decades of increasing mortality, the annual number of AIDS deaths globally has declined in the past two years, in part as a result of greater access to treatment.
• The cost of providing HIV treatment will continue to increase – as some of those on treatment currently need to access second and third line treatment regimens, and as delayed access makes disease management more complex for the estimated 30 million HIV-positive people worldwide who have never been on treatment.
In Brazil, the cost of providing drugs in 2008 is estimated at US$ 525 million—more than double the amount in 2004.
• Most countries have policies providing free antiretroviral drugs—however many patients have to pay ‘out-of-pocket’ costs such as diagnostic tests, treatments for opportunistic infections and transportation, items which can be quite considerable depending on local contexts.
Realizing these costs, the Government of Cameroon began making HIV treatment free in 2007, while in 2008 Indian Railways – India’s national rail service – introduced discounted fares for HIV-positive people travelling to receive treatment.
Tuberculosis and HIV
• Tuberculosis remains a leading cause of death for people living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries.
• While tuberculosis incidence has declined globally in recent years, the number of cases continues to increase in areas heavily affected by HIV or drug-resistant TB.
An estimated 22% of tuberculosis cases in Africa occur in people living with HIV—in some countries on the continent, this figure is as high as 70%.
TB patients with HIV have been shown to be twice as likely to have multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) as people who are not HIV-positive.
• Despite the availability of affordable treatments for tuberculosis, only 32% of TB cases in people living with HIV received both antiretroviral and anti-tuberculosis drugs—the greatest need for dual treatment is in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Efforts to prevent, diagnose and treat tuberculosis must be scaled up in HIV care settings.
To see a map of the global view of HIV infection, click here.
