Africa: Sub-Saharan Africa reverses HIV trends

By Henry Neondo

Sub-Saharan Africa appears to reverse a negative trend against HIV when a report released by the Joint United Nations Programme on Aids (UNAIDS) Friday showed the region recording a reduction in prevalence rates by 25 per cent.

Leading the gains against the disease that has come to define the region are Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Globally, however, the UNAIDS says the rate of new infections is still high, outstripping advances made in providing life saving treatment to people living with HIV.

There are five people newly infected with HIV for every two people newly put on treatment. Each day there are 7400 new HIV infections.

There has also been a resurgence of HIV infections among men who have sex with men in several high income countries. 

About 40 per cent are among young people between the ages of 15-24. Women continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, representing nearly 60 per cent of all people living with HIV in the region.

The proportion of women to men living with HIV in Asia rose from 19 per cent in 2000 to 35 per cent in 2008. Many were infected in the context of marriage.

Today, nearly 10 per cent of global HIV infections are due to unsafe injecting drug use. People who inject drugs often have little or no access to HIV prevention and treatment services. Only two needle– syringes were distributed per person who injects drugs per month and only eight persons who inject drugs had received opioid substitution therapy (OST) per 100 people who inject drugs.

The number of people accessing antiretroviral treatment has increased 12- fold in just six years. More than 5 million people are on treatment today.

As a result, more people living with HIV are leading healthier and productive lives. AIDS-related mortality has reduced significantly since the widespread availability of treatment in the past few years. There were 200,000 fewer AIDS-related deaths in 2008 than in 2004.

However, two out of three people requiring treatment do not have access to it. In addition, tuberculosis remains one of the leading causes of death among people living with HIV globally—despite being preventable and curable.

Recent data from WHO estimate that there were 1.4 million TB cases among people living with HIV and over 500,000 deaths in 2008.