AIDS-related deaths drop, except in Central Asia and the Middle East, UN agency reports
UNAIDS found an "alarming" trend in the two Asian regions. Cases and deaths are up, with many people going without treatment.
Geneva/Paris (AsiaNews) – AIDS-related deaths have almost halved, falling from 1.9 million in 2005 to 1 million in 2016, this according to the latest report from UNAIDS, the main United Nations agency fighting AIDS/HIV.
The trend is however far from positive in the Middle East and North Africa and in eastern Europe and central Asia, where AIDS-related deaths have risen by 48 per cent and 38 per cent respectively.
For UNAIDS alarming increases have been seen in new HIV infections in eastern Europe and central Asia. New HIV infections increased from 120 000 in 2010 to 190 000 in 2016.
In Russia, newly reported cases of HIV jumped by 75 per cent from 2010 to 2016. Even in Kazakhstan, the epidemic is rapidly growing.
Although access to HIV treatment in eastern Europe and central Asia has more than doubled in the past six years, only 28 per cent of people living with HIV have access to antiretroviral therapy in places like Kyrgyzstan, despite two out of three people living with HIV knowing their HIV status.
In Central Asia, the annual number of AIDS-related deaths rose from an estimated 32,000 in 2010 to 40,000 in 2016, a 25 per cent increase. The bulk of this occurred in Russia, where the epidemic claimed a reported 30 550 lives in 2016.
In the Middle East and North Africa, just over half of HIV patients were aware of their condition, and only half of them had access to the necessary care.
AIDS-related deaths more than doubled between 2000 and 2010 in Egypt, Iran, Kuwait, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen, which can be explained by increasing incidence in some countries and limited access to treatment in others.
Yet, overall 53 per cent of people living with HIV now have access to treatment. “We [. . .] are on track to double that number to 30 million and meet the 2020 target,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS.
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