HIV/Aids - report

HIV deaths down 10 per cent thanks to increased availability of drugs

Article published on the 2009-11-24 Latest update 2009-11-24 18:28 TU

Anti-retroviral drugs on display at the International Aids Conference in Nairobi, Kenya.
Photo: AFP

Greater access to anti-retroviral drugs has helped to cut the death toll from HIV by more than 10 per cent in the past five years, according to figures released on Tuesday. Africa remains the region worst affected, with more than 22 million people living with HIV and Aids.

An estimated 33.4 million people worldwide are infected with HIV, according to the latest report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAids).

In 2007, just 33 million people were living with HIV - because those infected were more likely to die from the virus. 

Increased access to drug treatment is to thank for the increased survival rate.

Since effective treatment became available in 1996, the report estimates, around 2.9 million lives have been saved.

Progress has been especially noticeable in Africa, where the incidence of HIV and Aids cases is highest.

In Botswana, for example, where treatment coverage is 80 per cent, Aids-related deaths fell by 50 per cent between 2002 and 2007.

"Another positive impact of the treatment is that the number of children orphaned by Aids is dropping in several sub-Saharan African countries as parents live longer," UNAids' senior epidemiologist Karen Stanecki told RFI.

She pointed to Uganda, where the number of Aids orphans has declined by 93 per cent.

UNAids predicts that this trend will continue - provided that governments continue to invest in HIV treatment scale-up.