MORE countries are increasing their own share of investments on HIV, as evidenced by a record eight million people now receiving anti-retroviral therapy. This is according to a UNAIDS Report titled ‘Together we will end AIDS’, launched here Tuesday during a high-level interactive panel discussion ahead of the XIX International AIDS Conference, which opens today in Washington, DC.
The report also contains the latest data on the number of new HIV infections and people receiving anti-retroviral treatment,as well as the number of AIDS-related deaths and HIV among children. And it gives an overview of international and domestic HIV investments and highlights new scientific opportunities and social progress and the need for greater value for money and sustainability.
Last month, Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, during his speech at another conference, titled “The new era in HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention:
Science, implementation and finance”, said that the UN Secretary-General’s last report to the General Assembly provides a clear update on the progress and challenges of the global AIDS response.
According to the Secretary-General’s report, new infections are declining in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean; the impact of treatment is clear and dramatic. Mortality has fallen in sub-Saharan Africa from 1.8 million deaths per year in 2005 to 1.2million in 2010. In low and middle-income countries across the world, 2.5 million AIDS-related deaths were averted during that period.
He reminded participants that 15 years ago in Uganda, hundreds of people with HIV/AIDS were losing their lives every day and the number of orphans was growing alarmingly.
He said no one believed at that time that poor people of the world could be put on HIV treatment. Only Thailand—and Uganda later on—could be called success stories.
But today, 56countries in the world have managed to stabilise their epidemics, and some of the highest burdened countries are seeing steep declines in the number of new infections—by 25% and even more.
According to him, the science of HIV has made tremendous progress as obstacles have been identified. There are new prevention technologies, new mechanisms and better drugs.
At the 2011 UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS, there was agreement on achieving concrete goals for 2015. Those goals are:

* To Reduce sexual transmission of HIV by 50% by 2015,
* Reduce transmission of HIV among people who inject drugs by 50% by 2015,
* Eliminate new HIV infections among children by 2015 and substantially reduce AIDS–related maternal deaths,
* Reach 15 million people living with HIV with life-saving antiretroviral treatment by 2015,
* Reduce Tuberculosis deaths in people living with HIV by 50% by 2015,
* Close the global AIDS resource gap by 2015 and reach annual global investment  of US$22 -24 billion in low and middle-income countries’
* Eliminate gender inequalities and gender-based abuse  and violence and increase the capacity of women and girls to protect themselves from HIV,
* Eliminate stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV through promotion of laws and policies that ensure the full realisation of all human rights and fundamental freedoms,
* Eliminate HIV-related restrictions on entry, stay and residence,
* Eliminate parallel systems for HIV-related services to strengthen integration of the AIDS response in global health and development efforts, as well as to strengthen social protection systems.

Together we will end AIDs is an encouraging guide to the world on the momentum of the AIDS response. It is estimated that 34.2 million people were living with HIV in 2011. In 2010, UNAIDS reported that at least 56 countries had either stabilised or achieved significant declines in rates of new HIV infections. New HIV infections have fallen by nearly 20% in the last 10 years worldwide. Two-and-a-half million (2.5 m) people were newly infected with HIV, 100 000 fewer than the 2.6 million new infections in 2010.  Over four million (4.9 m) young people are living with HIV, with 75% of them living in sub-Saharan Africa.
Changes in behaviour, combined with the natural course of the epidemic and an increase in access to antiretroviral therapy, has resulted in a continuing decline in new HIV infections by more than 20% since 2001. The number of people accessing life-saving anti-retroviral treatment rose by 20% in just one year – 2010 to 2011.In 2011, more than eight million people living with HIV in low and middle-income countries were receiving antiretroviral therapy, up from 6.6 million people in 2010 and 400 000 in 2003. The positive effects of antiretroviral therapy in suppressing viral loads of people living with HIV are helping to stop the transmission of HIV.
Globally, young women between 15 and 24 years of age remain the most vulnerable to HIV, with infection rates twice as high as among men of the same age. An estimated 1.2 million women and girls were newly infected with HIV in 2011. HIV is the leading cause of death of women of reproductive age. Some 63% of all young people 15-24 years living with HIV are young women.
According to UNAIDS findings, every day, 2400 young people aged 15 to 24 are infected with HIV around the globe, which represents 40% of all new infections among adults
In the Caribbean, the report states that 230 000 people were living with HIV in 2011 and the number of people newly infected with HIV in the region was 13000. An estimated 1100 children became infected with HIV in 2011. But heterosexual transmission is the main route of HIV infection in the Region, with high HIV prevalence documented among female sex workers.
Studies have also found a high HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men (MSM), ranging from more than 5% in cities in the Dominican Republic to 8% in the Bahamas, 19% in Guyana and 33% in Jamaica. Additionally, an estimated 10 000 people died from AIDS-related causes in 2011, about half as many as in 2001.
Together we will end AIDS also reveals that domestic funding for HIV has exceeded international investments. In fact, 81 countries increased their domestic investments for AIDS by more than 50% between 2006 and 2011.Low- and middle- income countries invested US$ 8.6 billion for the response in 2011, an increase of 11% over 2010. However, while domestic investments in AIDS are increasing, there is still a large shortfall in global funding for HIV. By 2015, the estimated annual gap will be US$ 7 billion
HIV funding from the international community; funds on the other hand, has been largely stable between 2008 and 2011, at US$ 8.2 billion. Funding from the United States of America for HIV, accounts for nearly 48% of all international assistance for AIDS.
At the 2011 United Nations High Level Meeting on AIDS, countries adopted a Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS in which they agreed to increase investments for HIV to between US$ 22 to 24 billion by 2015, but a concerted effort by all countries is needed to scale up funding if this target is to be met.
The DC caucus will bring together some of today’s influential leaders on HIV, global health and development, to share insights into the future of the AIDS response.
It will mark the first time in over 20 years such a meet is being held in the United States,  and comes just two years after the US lifted travel restrictions for people living with HIV.
Forty-six countries, territories and areas, however, still restrict people living with HIV (PLHIV) from entering, staying or residing in them.