AIDS Deaths Drop as Global Access to HIV Drugs Expand

By Shannon Pettypiece and Robert Langreth - 2012-07-18T14:30:00Z

Deaths from AIDS continued to decline last year as the number of people on HIV drugs worldwide surged 21 percent from 2010, according to a report that found poor and middle income countries spent more on treatment.

Deaths dropped 5.6 percent to 1.7 million in 2011 from the previous year as 8 million people in developing regions gained access to medicines that fight the infection, according to a report today from UNAIDS, the United Nations program to treat and prevent the illness. In Sub-Sahara Africa, where 69 percent of people with HIV live, the number on therapy jumped to 6.2 million from 100,000 in 2003.

There is still a huge gap from where we should be, but the world is doing better, said Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC: Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention, in a telephone interview. The big story is no longer about the science; it is about the money and politics. The two biggest questions now are where is the money coming from and where is it going to go.

About 7 million people infected with HIV in low income countries still need drugs and dont get them, the report said. Global health experts are now talking about getting millions more people on medications based on recent data showing that early treatment can prevent transmission of the AIDS virus. One concern is how to pay for it as the U.S. and some European nations tighten foreign aid.

More than 20,000 AIDS researchers and activists will meet in Washington next week at the International AIDS Conference, the first time the gathering has been held in the U.S. in 22 years. Much of the focus of the weeklong conference will be on how to get more people on treatment and prevent new infections, which occurred in 2.5 million people last year, down from 3.2 million in 2001. The total number of people living with HIV is 34.2 million, the report said.

It is definitely going in the right direction, said Gottfried Hirnschall, director of the department of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organization, in a telephone interview. We have a very decisive moment in front of us to say we need to do more.

AIDS deaths peaked in 2005 and 2006 at 2.3 million and have been going down since then, according to the report.

Last year, governments and non-profits spent $16.8 billion on HIV treatment and prevention, an 11 percent increase from 2010. Still, thats at least $5 billion short of the $22 billion to $24 billion needed to reach the United Nations goal of getting treatment to all 15 million people who need it. The recommendations call for treatment once infection-fighting cells decline below a particular level.

It will cost billions of dollars more to expand treatment to a broader swath of patients with earlier stage disease in order to prevent transmission of the AIDS virus. Last May, a study of 1,763 couples in which one partner was infected found that starting drug treatment right away in the infected person greatly slashed the odds that the unaffected partner would get the virus. The findings were the first proof that treating a person with HIV can reduce the chance they will infect others.

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AIDS Deaths Drop as Global Access to HIV Drugs Expand