Commentary: The Next Ten Years with HIV

Arhan Deoli^*
*Correspondence: Arhan Deoli, National AIDS Research Institute, India, Email:

Commentary

Antiretrovirals are currently available to 26 million of the estimated 38 million people living with HIV worldwide. The number of people dying from AIDS has decreased from 14 million in 2000 to 690,000 in 2019. During the same time period, funding for HIV/AIDS programmes in low- and middle- income countries increased from $48 billion to $186.6 billion. Since 2000, the number of new infections has decreased by about 1 million per year. However, they continue to be persistently high. In 2019, it is anticipated that 17.7 million people will be infected with HIV. The promise of prevention through therapy has not been realised to the level that we had hoped. Around 70% of new HIV infections occur in Africa, with young women having the highest prevalence. These women are primarily infected by the virus from recently infected older males who are often uninformed of their HIV status and hence do not take antiretrovirals.

The number of new infections has decreased. Since the year 2000, around 1 million people have been killed. However, they continue to be persistently high. A total of 17 million people are expected to visit the United States in 2019. HIV was contracted by individuals. Around 70% of new HIV infections occur, with young women having the highest frequency. These women are primarily infected by HIV from recently infected older males who are often uninformed of their HIV status and hence do not take antiretrovirals. Linda-Gail Bekker is the director of the University of Cape Town's Desmond Tutu HIV Centre. She stated, "The last ten years have been a critical time in HIV/AIDS." “We have the tools we need, and more are on the way, to make a significant difference in the epidemic. Now is the time to take risks with their deployment. Current technologies appear to be incompatible with what women are willing or capable of. How can we expect young females who are not sick to start the PrEP process? Perhaps we are wishing for too much when we hope that most at-risk young women will take a pill every day or visit the clinic once a month for an injection. A dramatic rethinking of how programmes are implemented to ensure that the most vulnerable people, where the majority of new infections occur, are thoroughly tested and treated.

UNAIDS has set the 95-95-95 aim for 2030, which means that 95% of HIV- positive people will know their status, 95% of those diagnosed will get treatment, and 95% of those on treatment will have suppressed viral levels. The world had achieved 81-82-88 by the end of 2019. More than 7 million people are infected with HIV and are unaware of it. There's a reason why so many people aren't using the system: we've made it difficult to use. We've pushed ourselves out of reach of the people who need help the most, and we've been moving more away from them in recent months. A complete overhaul of how things are done programmes is carried out in order to ensure that the people who are on the margins are the majority of new infections are caused by bacteria concentrated have been extensively tested and apply therapy.