VARIOUS/FILE: On 30th anniversary of first diagnosis of HIV/AIDS, U.N. data shows that more than 7,100 people catch the virus every day

Record ID: 402664

  • Title: VARIOUS/FILE: On 30th anniversary of first diagnosis of HIV/AIDS, U.N. data shows that more than 7,100 people catch the virus every day
  • Date: 4th June 2011
  • Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (MAY 31, 2011) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNAIDS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MICHEL SIDIBE, SAYING: "Let us not forget that we lost 30 million people, that 65 million people have been infected during the last 30 years. But also we made progress. Ten years ago no one, I can say close to zero people were on treatment in Africa. Today, globally, we have mor
  • Embargoed: 19th June 2011 13:00
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  • Location: South Africa, Switzerland, Kenya, Djibouti
  • City:
  • Country: Djibouti South Africa Kenya Switzerland
  • Topics: International Relations,Health
  • Reuters ID: LVA12MI9ZJ1VRG14XKACZWBP5C8L
  • Story Text: Sixty five million people have been infected in the 30 years that have passed since HIV was first documented, yet dramatic scientific advances mean the virus is no longer a death sentence.
    Thanks to tests that detect HIV early, new antiretroviral AIDS drugs that can control the virus for decades, and a range of ways to stop it being spread, 33.3 million people around the world are learning to live with HIV.
    Nonetheless, on the 30th birthday of HIV, the global scientific community is setting out with renewed vigour to try to kill it. The drive is partly about science, and partly about money. Treating HIV patients with lifelong courses of sophisticated drugs is becoming unaffordable.
    Caring for HIV patients in developing countries alone already costs around $13 billion a year and that could treble over the next 20 years.
    The International AIDS Society will this month formally add the aim of finding a cure to its HIV strategy of prevention, treatment and care.
    A group of scientist-activists is also launching a global working group to draw up a scientific plan of attack and persuade governments and research institutions to commit more funds. Money is starting to flow. The U.S. National Institutes of Health is asking for proposals for an $8.5 million collaborative research grant to search for a cure, and the Foundation for AIDS Research, or amfAR, has just announced its first round of four grants to research groups "to develop strategies for eradicating HIV infection."
    Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, told Reuters on Tuesday (May 31) that massive strides have been made in reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS.
    "Today, globally, we have more than 6.6 million people on treatment. More than 60 countries managed to stabilize and reduce significantly the number of new infection," Sidibe said.
    He added that the attitude of the younger generation is vital for helping turn the tide against HIV/AIDS.
    "Young people are leading prevention revolution... Treatment for prevention is possible. We know that 96 percent of reduction in new infection amongst couples is possible if we treat people earlier. This is a game changer, this can change completely the way we deal the epidemic, " Sidibe said.
    HIV first surfaced in 1981, when scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discovered it was the cause of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). An article in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of that June referred to "five young men, all active homosexuals" from Los Angeles as the first documented cases.
    In the subsequent three decades, the disease ignorantly branded "the gay plague" has become one of the most vicious pandemics in human history. Transmitted in semen, blood and breast milk, HIV has devastated poorer regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, where the vast majority of HIV-positive people live. As more tests and treatment have become available, the number of new infections has been falling. But for every two with HIV who get a chance to start on AIDS drugs, five more join the "newly infected" list. United Nations data show that despite an array of potential prevention measures -- from male circumcision to sophisticated vaginal or anal microbicide gels -- more than 7,100 new people catch the virus every day.
    Treatment costs per patient can range from around $150 a year in poor countries, where drugs are available as cheap generics, to more than $20,000 a year in the United States.
    UNAIDS' Michel Sidibe argues that financial issues need to be addressed, with virtually all medication currently being produced outside Africa.
    He said: "96 percent of the people on treatment today are on treatment based on the resources coming from outside of African of continent. To sustain that, we need innovative financing, we need domestic financing, and we need shared responsibility with more implication from emerging nations."
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