Hard-won progress against HIV has stalled, putting millions of lives at risk, according to an alarming report Wednesday on how the COVID-19 pandemic and other global crises are jeopardizing efforts to end AIDS.
Worldwide, the years-long decline in new HIV infections is leveling off. Worse, cases began climbing in parts of Asia and the Pacific where they previously had been falling, according to the United Nations agency leading the global AIDS fight.
The number of people on lifesaving HIV treatments grew more slowly last year than it has in a decade. Inequities are widening. Every two minutes last year, a teen girl or young woman was newly infected — and in sub-Saharan Africa, they’re three times as likely to get HIV as boys and men the same age. And 650,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses last year, the report found.
“This is an alarm to the world to say that COVID-19 has blown the AIDS response significantly off track,” said Matthew Kavanagh, deputy executive director of UNAIDS.
The U.N. set a goal of fewer than 370,000 new HIV infections by 2025. Last year, there were about 1.5 million — meaning it would take a major turnaround to get anywhere near that target. Yet low- and middle-income countries are $8 billion short of the funding needed, as international aid also has dropped, the report found.
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