HIV cases and deaths are falling

PARIS: The number of new HIV infections and deaths is falling worldwide, making significant progress in the fight against the disease.

But HIV is far from being eradicated and more needs to be done, health experts warned ahead of World AIDS Day on Sunday.

Abnormal progress

Fewer people contracted HIV last year than at any time since the disease surged in the late 1980s, a UNAIDS report said on Tuesday.

However, the 1.3 million new HIV cases recorded in 2023 are still more than three times higher than needed to meet the UN goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, the UN agency.

Last year, too, about 630,000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses, the lowest level since a peak of 2.1 million in 2004.

A separate study published in The Lancet HIV The journal on Tuesday found that the number of HIV cases worldwide fell by a fifth during the 2010s.

HIV-related deaths, which are generally caused by other diseases during the later stages of AIDS, fell by about 40 percent to less than a million a year, the study said.

The decline is mainly due to improved rates in sub-Saharan Africa, which is by far the region hardest hit by the global epidemic.

However, infections did not decrease everywhere. Other regions, such as Eastern Europe and the Middle East, have seen an increase in HIV numbers.

“The world has made remarkable global progress to significantly reduce the number of new HIV infections,” said study lead author Hmwe Kyu of the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

“More than a million people acquire a new HIV infection each year and, of the 40 million people living with HIV, a quarter are not receiving treatment,” she said in a statement.

Effective tools, for some

Preventive treatments called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) have proven to be a powerful tool in the fight against HIV.

These daily pills reduce the risk of contracting HIV from sex by about 99%, and have helped reduce HIV rates in many countries.

But “only 15% of people who need PrEP were receiving it in 2023,” UNAIDS said.

For people infected with HIV, antiretroviral therapy can reduce the amount of virus in their blood to undetectable levels.

However, some 9.3 million people – nearly a quarter of those living with HIV worldwide – were not receiving this treatment, UNAIDS warned.

New drug raises hopes

These tools have worked well in richer countries, but the high costs have meant that poorer countries—such as in Africa—have often been left behind.

There are fears that history could repeat itself for a new drug that has been hailed as a potential game changer in the fight against HIV.

Early trials have shown that the antiretroviral treatment lenacapavir is 100% effective in preventing HIV infection. And it only needs to be injected twice a year, making the drug much easier to administer than current regimens that require daily pills.

US pharmaceutical giant Gilead charges about $40,000 per person per year for the treatment in several countries.

But the researchers estimated the drug could be made for as little as $40, calling on Gilead to allow cheaper access to hard-hit countries.

Last month, Gilead announced it had signed licensing deals with six generic drugmakers to make and sell lencapavir in lower-income countries.

While experts largely welcomed the move, some noted that millions of people with HIV live in countries not included in the agreement.

The twice-yearly injection is also hoped to help tackle another problem with HIV drug delivery – the stigma that comes with the disease.

What about a vaccine?

Despite decades of efforts, an HIV vaccine remains elusive.

But the lencapavir vaccine is “basically like having a vaccine,” said Andrew Hill, a researcher at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom. AFP earlier this year.

A handful of patients have also been effectively cured of HIV.

But these treatments only happen after a patient undergoes a brutal stem cell transplant for their leukemia, so they’re not an option for nearly all people living with HIV.