There has been a massive progress for the Millennium Developmental Goal 6's target date for AIDS. In fact, this progress exceeded the said goal. According to a report released by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), halting and reversing the spread of HIV has finally been achieved.
The good news was announced by Peter Ghys, Director of Strategic Information and Evaluation of UNAIDS. He said, "As of March 2015, 15 million people are receiving life-saving HIV treatment... The ambitious target of reaching 15 million set by member states in 2011 has been met. And with this achievement we have averted nearly 8 million AIDS-related deaths since the year 2000," NDTV has learned.
The UNAIDS report shows a reduce in the cases of new HIV infections by 35%. Sub-Saharan Africa, the region most affected by the virus, has also dropped by 41%.
The overwhelming global response to HIV has prevented 30 million HIV infections in the last 15 years, including India, which is one of the top five worst affected countries. Moreover, it averted almost 8 million deaths associated with AIDS since 2000 when the Millennium Developmental Goal was set.
In addition, the top five countries with the most number of HIV infections in the past 14 years, from 2000 to 2014, which are South Africa, India, Mozambique, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, have all lifted their HIV epidemics.
Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, added, "The world has delivered on halting and reversing the AIDS epidemic. Now we must commit to ending the AIDS epidemic as part of the Sustainable Development Goals."
This progress indicates the end of the 15-year conspiracy of silence that AIDS was a disease of the "others," with treatment only available for the wealthy. Michael Sidibe, Executive Director of UNAIDS, proudly revealed that today, there are 15 million individuals under antiretroviral therapy, which is equivalent to 15 million success stories, UNAIDS reports. Among these are 45,546 children with ages 14 years and below.
Prior to achieving this goal, there were a lot of works done, and among these are distribution of condoms which averted 50 million new HIV cases, educating and encouraging people about safe sex and giving pregnant women with AIDS proper medication to avoid their newborns from being infected, NBC News has learned.
The goal of ending AIDS is defined as ensuring that 90 percent of those infected with the said disease is aware of their condition, similarly 90 percent of those diagnosed as positive will receive antiretroviral treatment, NDTV reports.
With its extraordinary success, the UNAIDS report said, "The world is on track to meet the investment target of USD 22 billion for the AIDS response by 2015 and that concerted action over the next five years can end the AIDS epidemic by 2030."
