A significant expansion in access to treatment helped slash the number of AIDS-related deaths in 2010, bringing the number of people living with HIV to a record 34 million, the United Nations said Monday.
"We are on the verge of a significant breakthrough in the AIDS response," said Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS. "New HIV infections continue to fall and more people than ever are starting treatment," he noted.
Speaking to journalists in Berlin for the presentation of the report, Sidibe hailed what he called a "game-changing year."
"For the first time we are able to demonstrate that if you put people early on treatment you can reduce the number of new infections," he said.
About half of those eligible for treatment are now receiving it, with the most dramatic improvement in access seen in sub-Saharan Africa, which recorded a 20-percent jump in people undergoing treatment between 2009 and 2010.
As a result of better access to healthcare, the number of AIDS-related deaths was also falling, said UNAIDS, the UN agency spearheading the international campaign against the disease.
In 2010, 1.8 million deaths were linked to AIDS, down from a peak of 2.2 million last seen in 2006.
"An estimated 700,000 AIDS-related deaths were estimated to have been averted in 2010 alone," added the UN agency.
ot only is treatment helping to prevent new AIDS-related deaths but it is also contributing to a drop in new HIV infections.
Patients undergoing care were less likely to infect others, as prevention programmes coupled with treatments were proving effective.
Modelling data suggests that "the number of new HIV infections is 30 to 50 percent lower now than it would have been in the absence of universal access to treatment for eligible people living with HIV."
In Namibia for instance, where treatment access reached an all-time high of 90 percent and condom use rose to 75 percent among men, the combined impact contributed to a 60 percent drop in new infections by 2010, noted UNAIDS.
"I want to say this report is clearly showing that even in those difficult period (three years of financial crisis) we are still having a result: we have more and more countries which are reducing the number of new infections," said Sidibe.
The UN agency added that the full preventive impact of treatment was likely to be seen in the next five years, as more countries reach high levels of treatment coverage.
"The massive increases in the numbers of people receiving treatment in South Africa between 2009 and 2010, for example, are likely to be reflected in substantially fewer new infections in the near future," it said.
UNAIDS assessed that even if the AIDS epidemic is not over, "the end may be in sight if countries invest smartly."
"In the next five years, smart investments can propel the AIDS response towards achieving the vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths," it said.
However, the turning point is coming at a time when industrialised nations' public budgets are being squeezed and translating to less international funding for the AIDS response.
Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres urged governments to keep up their funding.
"Never, in more than a decade of treating people living with HIV/AIDS, have we been at such a promising moment to really turn this epidemic around," said Tido von Schoen-Angerer, who heads MSF's access campaign.
"Governments in some of the hardest hit countries want to act on the science, seize this moment and reverse the AIDS epidemic. But this means nothing if there's no money to make it happen."
<한글기사>
치료 확대로 에이즈 사망자 감소했지만..
감염자수는 3천400만명 사망자는 180만명
국제사회의 에이즈(AID) 치료 서비스 보급 노력에 힘입어 지난해 관련 사망자수가 줄었다는 유엔의 보고서가 나왔다.
유엔에이즈계획(UNAIDS)은 21일(현지시간) 발표한 보고서에서 지난해말 현재 HIV(인간면역결핍바이러스) 감염자수가 3천400만명을 기록했다고 밝혔다.
이는 인구 증가 등으로 인해 전년에 비해 미미하게 늘어난 것이며, 2007년 이래 로 매년 270만명씩 안정적으로 증가하고 있다고 이 단체는 설명했다.
지난해 에이즈로 인한 사망자수는 180만명으로 정점을 기록했던 2006년의 220만 명에 비해 감소했다.
지난 한해 동안 70만명이 치료를 통해서 목숨을 구한 것으로 나타났다.
유엔에이즈계획을 이끄는 미셸 시디베 박사는 베를린에서 가진 기자회견에서 "우리는 에이즈 대처에 중요한 돌파구를 맞고 있다"며 "신규 HIV 감염자수가 지속적으로 줄고 있고 과거 어느때보다 많은 사람들이 치료를 시작하고 있다"고 말했다.
사하라 사막 주변의 아프리카의 경우 치료를 받을 여건이 되는 사람들 중 절반 가량이 치료에 응하고 있다.
이는 치료를 받는 비율이 2009년에 비해 20% 급증한 것이다.
지난해 아프리카 나미비아의 경우 에이즈 감염자의 90%가 치료를 받았으며, 남성의 콘돔 사용률이 75%로 높아진 결과 신규 HIV 감염이 60% 급감했다.
시디베 박사는 "우리가 성과를 내고 있으며 비록 글로벌 경제위기로 어려움을 겪고 있지만 이러한 노력은 계속돼야 한다는 것을 강조하고 싶다"고 말했다.
