Associated Press (04.30.12) - Tuesday, May 01, 2012
A new report to the UN General Assembly warns that the target
of halting and reversing the global HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2015
may not be met. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's briefing noted
that around $15 billion was available for HIV/AIDS efforts in
2010, but an estimated $22 billion to $24 billion will be
needed by 2015 to meet the UN's goal.
"It will be impossible to achieve global targets without
sufficient financial resources," said Ban, urging the
international community "to now stand up to meet the
commitments it has made."
Approximately 34 million people were living with HIV/AIDS as
of December 2010, about half of them females, the report says.
"Sub-Saharan Africa remains most heavily affected, accounting
for 68 percent of all people living with HIV and 70 percent of
all people newly infected in 2010." While new infections are
down from record levels in 1997, "HIV incidence is rising in
Eastern Europe and Central Asia, in the Middle East and North
Africa, and in certain Asian countries."
In 2011, more than 7 million people with HIV/AIDS in low- and
middle-income countries were receiving antiretroviral
treatment. The UN aims to more than double that figure to 15
million by 2015; to halve both the number of people infected
through sex, to 1 million annually, and the number infected
through injecting drug use, to 120,000 a year; and to largely
eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV.