Monday, December 1, was World AIDS Day. The global community has made tremendous progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS since the first World AIDS Day was observed in 1988. In 1996, at the Vancouver International AIDS conference, combination antiretroviral (ARV) treatment was announced to be highly effective in keeping those living with HIV healthy. Even with these medical breakthroughs, international actors were hesitant to attempt AIDS treatment in poor settings, due to the lack of infrastructure and other systemic barriers.

Fortunately, in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, the global community did come together to reach poor countries through international HIV/AIDS efforts. In 1996, the Joint United Nations Program on AIDS (UNAIDS) began its work. In 2002, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was established, and in 2003, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was launched.

These significant medical and programmatic achievements have been accompanied with promising results on the ground, even in the poorest settings. As recently as 2002, only 50,000 HIV-positive people in Africa had access to antiretroviral medicine (only 1% of those in need). By the end of 2007, 2.1 million Africans (30% of those in need) — and nearly 3 million people globally (31% of those in need) — were receiving treatment. Additionally, the number of children under 15 in low-and middle-income countries who receive ARV treatment grew from 75,000 in 2005 to 200,000 in 2007.

Earlier this week, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced that 2 million people are on ARV treatment through Global Fund supported programs; this is an increase of 43% since the results were reported last December. The Global Fund has also supported 62 million HIV counseling and testing sessions, and provided basic care and support to 3.2 million AIDS orphans and vulnerable children.

These results are impressive, but the fight against HIV/AIDS is far from over. With 33 million people living with HIV worldwide (of which, 9.7 million still need ARV therapy) and 7,400 new HIV infections every day, global efforts must continue to help eradicate this devastating pandemic.

-Rena Pacheco-Theard

Today is the 20th annual World AIDS Day – a day to recognize progress in fighting the disease, but to also recommit to the long road ahead. For over 14 years, UNAIDS has helped to provide strategic direction and current data to those fighting the pandemic. UNAIDS has grown to around 700 employees, but it is still not well known to most people. Today seems like an appropriate day to describe it.

UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, was created to coordinate global action against the AIDS epidemic. Established in 1994 by a United Nations resolution, it starting its work in 1996 and now operates in more than 80 countries worldwide. AIDS funding has increased almost forty fold since 1996, when the figure stood at roughly $260 million, to nearly $10 billion in 2007.

UNAIDS plays a unique role in the international community, rallying ten distinct UN agencies to work together to combat AIDS. The program focuses its work in five key areas: leadership and advocacy, strategic information and technical support, tracking monitoring and evaluation, civil society engagement and mobilization of resources. With the help of its partners, UNAIDS works to prevent the spread of HIV, support those infected with the disease, lessen the vulnerability of individuals and communities to HIV/AIDS, and reduce the socioeconomic and human impact of the epidemic.

Dr. Peter Piot has served as the Executive Director of UNAIDS since it was started. Dr. Piot successfully organized the first ever UN sessions to discuss AIDS, including the 2000 UN Security Council and the 2001 UN General Assembly. At the end of this year, Dr. Piot will be stepping down from his UNAIDS post and taking on a position as the first Director of the new Institute for Global Health at Imperial College London. As the head of the largest organization devoted to a single disease, the new Executive Director will face many challenges and opportunities as UNAIDS responds to the challenge of the AIDS epidemic.

Today, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon named Michel Sidibe the new Executive Director of UNAIDS. He is currently the Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS and will assume his new post on January 1st. You can read his full biography and a press release here.

- Rena Pacheco-Theard

More newspapers are picking up on the positive new global AIDS numbers we reported yesterday:

In today’s LA Times:

The number of AIDS deaths worldwide dropped 10% in 2007 because of increasing access to treatment, as did the number of new infections in children, the United Nations reported Tuesday.

Condom use and prevention efforts increased in many countries and adolescent sexual intercourse declined in some of the most heavily affected regions, the report says.

“In a surprisingly short period of time, there has been a tripling of prevention efforts in some countries,” said Dr. Paul De Lay, director of evaluation for UNAIDS…

“The lesson here is that where there is investment, prevention and treatment work,” said the Rev. Canon Gideon Byamugisha of the Hope Institute in Uganda.

Earlier today, UNAIDS released its 2008 report on the global AIDS epidemic. The report, which is published every two years, takes a detailed look at the state of the epidemic and progress towards scaling-up access to treatment, prevention and care around the world.

An important finding in this year’s report is that some progress is being made on the prevention side. BBC reports:

“The report says prevention programmes have seen changes in sexual behaviour, and a drop in infection rates in countries such as Rwanda and Zimbabwe. Condom use is also increasing among young people with multiple partners in many countries. This has been seen in seven of the most affected countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia…. The report also reveals that the percentage of HIV-positive pregnant women receiving antiretroviral drugs to prevent transmission of the virus to their child rose from 14% in 2005 to 33% in 2007.”

The report also found that expanded access to life-saving antiretroviral treatment is helping to reduce deaths. In 2007, the number of AIDS-related deaths dropped to 2 million, down from 2.2 million in 2005.

Stay tuned here for a closer look some of the report’s findings.

-Nora Coghlan