UN: AIDS death figures dropped by ‘almost half’ in 11 years

The United Nations says the annual number of people who die from Acquired Immunodeficiency Disease (AIDS) nearly halved from 1.9 million people in 2005 to one million in 2016.

According to Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) agency, the number of people infected with HIV who now have access to medical treatment has also risen to above 50 percent for the first time in the battle against the disease.

UNAIDS said 36.7 million people were living with human immunodeficiecy virus (HIV) in 2016 and 53 percent were able to get medicine that suppress the virus.

HIV is a virus that weakens the immune system, exposing the body to various diseases and could lead to AIDS.

Southern and Eastern Africa have seen the most dramatic improvements, with annual new infections dropping by 29 percent since 2010, while annual AIDS fatalities plummeted by 42 percent.

In these two African regions, life expectancy has jumped by 10 years in the past decade.

“As we bring the epidemic under control, health outcomes are improving and nations are becoming stronger,” Michel Sidibe, UNAIDS executive director said.

However, UNAIDS sounded the alarm over developments in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the only world regions where HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths are on the rise.

An estimated 42 percent of the infections in these regions are caused by contaminated needles that are used to inject drugs.

Northern Africa and the Middle East are two additional problem areas.

“Only one out of five people living with HIV in these regions is getting medicine to suppress the virus,” UNAIDS said.