In June 1981, scientists in the United States reported the first clinical evidence of a disease that would later become known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. Its cause, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), was identified in 1983.

HIV is found in the bodily fluids of a person who is living with HIV—blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breast milk. It can be transmitted through unprotected sexual contact.  It is also spread among people who inject drugs with non-sterile needles–syringes, as well as through unscreened blood products. It can spread from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding if the mother is living with HIV.

HIV Crisis: 9.3 million without treatment as new infections surge past targets

According to UNAIDS, since the start of the epidemic around 88.4 million people have acquired HIV and around 42.3 million people have died of AIDS-related illnesses.In 2023, 39,9 million people were living with HIV, and 53% of them were women and girls.

While the end of AIDS is within our reach this decade, the world is currently off track. Of the 39.9 million people living with HIV worldwide, 9.3 million - almost a quarter - are not receiving life-saving treatment. As a result, one person dies every minute from AIDS-related causes.

Leaders have committed to reducing the annual number of new HIV infections to below 370,000 by 2025. However, new infections remain alarmingly high at 1.3 million in 2023, which is more than three times the target.

Antiretroviral treatment

Over the ensuing decades, the rate of people becoming HIV-positive soared dramatically, as did the rate of fatalities. But eventually, new antiretroviral treatment began to extend the lives of those who were living with HIV. In 2023, 30.7 million of all people living with HIV were accessing antiretroviral therapy. At the same time, even though the number of people becoming HIV-positive has declined, there are still an unacceptably high number of people acquiring HIV and AIDS-related deaths each year. In 2023, 1.3 million people were newly infected with HIV and around 630.000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses.

Since 2010, new HIV infections have declined from 2.1 million to 1.3 million in 2023 (from 300.000 in 2010 to 120.000 in 2023 in children) and AIDS-related deaths have declined by 69% since the peak in 2004.

Despite the tremendous progress in preventing new HIV infections the report shows that new HIV infections are rising in three regions - the Middle East and North Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and Latin America - and that gaps and inequalities remain.

Gender inequalities and lack of treatment delay the end of AIDS

The effects of gender inequalities on women’s HIV risks are especially pronounced in sub-Saharan Africa, where women and girls accounted for 62% of all new HIV infections in 2023. Harmful masculinities are discouraging men from seeking care.

With stigma and discrimination against marginalised communities creating barriers to vital prevention and treatment services, key populations, including sex workers, men who have sex with men and people who inject drugs, account for a higher proportion of new infections globally (55%) than in 2010 (45%).

Funding continues to fall short of the needs

Funding for HIV programmes decreased by 5% from 2022 to 2023, and by 7.9% from 2020 to 2023. This funding is significantly below the US$ 29.3 billion needed for the AIDS response in low- and middle-income countries, including those previously classified as upper-income countries, by 2025. This amount is essential to get on track to end AIDS as a public health threat.

UNAIDS

The United Nations family has been in the vanguard of this progress. Since 1996, its efforts have been coordinated by UNAIDS—the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. UNAIDS is an innovative joint venture of the United Nations family, which brings together the efforts and resources of 11 United Nations system organizations to unite the world against AIDS. These are: UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank.

Goals to end AIDS

Millennium Development Goals

In 2000, at the General Assembly’s Millennium Summit world leaders set specific goals to stop and reverse the spread of HIV. Heads of state and representatives of governments issued the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, which set out a series of national targets and global actions to reverse the epidemic. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was created in 2002. And in 2006, the General Assembly held a high-level review of progress made since its special session, adopting a 53-point Political Declaration on the way towards universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services.

World leaders gathered in New York in June 2011 for the General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AIDS that adopted another Political Declaration. The promises they made defined the next steps in the global AIDS response.

In 2015, the world delivered on the AIDS targets of Millennium Development Goal 6—halting and reversing the AIDS epidemic. This remarkable achievement marks the first time a global health target has been met and exceeded. By mid-2015, the number of people accessing antiretroviral therapy reached nearly 16 million—double the number just five years earlier.

The world has halted and reversed the spread of HIV. The epidemic has been forced into decline. Now the response is going one step further—ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

Sustainable Development Goals

Ending AIDS by 2030 is an integral part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were unanimously adopted by United Nations Member States in 2015. The lessons learned in responding to HIV will play an instrumental role in the success of many of the SDGs, notably SDG 3, good health and well-being, and the goals on gender equality and women’s empowerment, reduced inequalities, global partnerships and just, peaceful and inclusive societies

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