HIV/AIDS mortality remains high worldwide, says UN

PanARMENIAN.Net - HIV/AIDS mortality remains high worldwide, reminding the international community that the fight against the pandemic is far from over, according to the UNAIDS Global Report 2019 released on Tuesday, July 16, Xinhua reports.

The report says 770,000 people died of HIV/AIDS worldwide in 2018, only a 30,000 reduction from 2017, compared to 800,000 in 2017 and 840,000 in 2016.

The report was released in Eshowe, South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province. According to UNAIDS, South Africa was nominated out of the 193 United Nations member states to host the official launch of this report in view of its remarkable and outstanding efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

In 2016, the UN member states endorsed the goal of cutting HIV/AIDS deaths by 50 percent by 2020, to less than 500,000 per year.

Six months to this deadline the world is far from achieving this target, says the report.

The pace of progress in reducing new HIV infections, increasing access to treatment and ending AIDS-related deaths is slowing down, the report says.

The report shows a mixed picture, with some countries making impressive gains while others are experiencing rises in new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths.

Globally, around 1.7 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2018, a 16-percent decline since 2010, driven mostly by steady progress across most of eastern and southern Africa, the report shows.