The World Health
Organisation, WHO, has disclosed that no fewer than 770,000 people died of
HIV-related causes in 2018 while an estimated 37,900,000 people are still
living with HIV as at the end of 2018 globally.
FG and dormancy of
HIV/AIDS anti-discrimination law WHO in a report to mark this year’s World AIDS
Day, with the theme: “Community Makes the Difference” also disclosed that a
total of 1,700,000 people were newly infected with HIV in the same year.
The report found that
of the 37.9 million people living with HIV at the end of 2018, 79 per cent
received testing, 62 per cent received treatment, and 53 per cent had achieved
suppression of the HIV virus with reduced risk of infecting others. 500,000
target number of new cases and deaths per year by 2020. “Between 2000 and 2018,
new HIV infections fell by 37 per cent and HIV-related deaths fell by 45 per
cent, with 13.6 million lives saved due to ART.
This achievement was
the result of great efforts by national HIV programmes supported by civil
society and international development partners.
The global health body
noted that one of the key contributors to this success in all countries has
been the thousands of members of HIV and “key population” community networks
and community health workers, many of whom are living with or affected by HIV.
While drawing global
attention to the need for their broader engagement in strengthening primary
health care, WHO urged countries to adopt community-based HIV testing,
prevention, treatment and care as a core strategy.
Reacting to the
report, the Director-General of WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recommended
a strategic mix of approaches for testing, including community-based testing,
self-testing and provider-assisted referral to reach people at the highest risk
of HIV.
The WHO African region
remains most severely affected, with nearly 1 in every 25 adults (3.9 per cent)
living with HIV and accounting for more than two-thirds of the people living
with HIV worldwide.
