Over the 41 years since AIDS was first reported, the International AIDS Conferences have served as a communal platform for collective action, driving some truly watershed moments in the HIV response. , the 24th International AIDS Conference (29 July - 2 August) in Montreal, Canada, will call on the world to come together to re-engage and follow the science. It will define future research agendas, shift the latest evidence to action, and chart a new consensus on overcoming the HIV epidemic as a threat to public health and individual well-being.
AIDS
reports that most of the 150,000 new HIV infections among children in 2020 could have been prevented. A strong start would be to better engage women and girls at significant risk of acquiring HIV infection in integrated antenatal care and HIV services, including HIV prevention and testing, delivered at the local level, and to ensure that those who are HIV-positive receive treatment before pregnancy. Nearly 65,000 child infections occurred in 2020 because women already living with HIV were not diagnosed during pregnancy and did not start treatment.
Globally, the testing and treatment targets for 2020 were almost reached among adult women (15 years and older) living with HIV. Men living with HIV, however, are consistently faring worse than women across the HIV testing and treatment continuum. Compared to women living with HIV, there are 740,000 more men living with HIV who do not know their HIV status, 1.3 million more men, who are not on treatment and 920,000 more men, who are not virally suppressed. While gender norms that prize male strength and stoicism may partly explain why many men delay seeking care, other factors are also at play.
On World AIDS 2021, the World Health Organization calls on global leaders and citizens to confront inequalities and to overcome the growing disparities in access to essential HIV services.
At least 300,000 children were newly infected with HIV in 2020, or one child every two minutes, said in a new .
It has been 40 years since the first reported cases of HIV and 25 years since the creation of . Take a look at the momentous moments of the past four decades. From HIV meaning a certain death to the spectacular progress made with treatment and prevention... It is time to act now and end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. It is possible.
Four decades after the first cases of AIDS were reported, new data from show that dozens of countries achieved or exceeded the 2020 targets set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2016. The that countries with progressive laws and policies and strong and inclusive health systems have had the best outcomes against HIV. UNAIDS urges world leaders to adopt a bold political declaration on HIV at the , being held 8-10 June, and to commit to achieving a new set of targets for 2025 to end AIDS by 2030.
The COVID-19 pandemic and women living with HIV
The global HIV epidemic is not over and may be accelerating during the COVID-19, with a devastating impact on communities and countries.