MONTREAL – Ahead of a major international AIDS conference in Montreal, researchers and officials on Wednesday touted progress toward a cure for HIV but lamented how the COVID-19 pandemic disrupt the global fight against the disease.
MONTREAL – Ahead of a major international AIDS conference in Montreal, researchers and officials on Wednesday touted progress toward a cure for HIV but lamented how the COVID-19 pandemic disrupt the global fight against the disease.
A report released Wednesday by UNAIDS, the United Nations’ Joint Program on HIV/AIDS, said around 1.5 million people were infected with HIV in 2021. This number is down 3.6 percent than the previous year, but the smaller drop in the number of new infections. since 2016.
UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima told reporters in Montreal that global crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, are responsible for “derailing” progress against HIV.
“The response to the AIDS pandemic has been derailed by global crises, from the colliding HIV and COVID pandemics, to the war in Ukraine and the resulting global economic crisis,” said Byanyima .
In the Asia-Pacific region, Byanyima added, the number of new infections increased in 2021 after declining for several years. In other parts of the world, he said, progress has stalled.
Approximately 650,000 people died from HIV in 2021, according to the United Nations.
“If these trends continue, we could see an additional 7.7 million AIDS-related deaths in this decade,” Byanyima said.
The report came two days before the start of AIDS 2022, the 24th International AIDS Conference, in Montreal. More than 9,000 researchers, doctors and people living with HIV are expected to attend the conference in person; A further 2,000 delegates are registered to attend online.
Earlier Wednesday, researchers spoke about the progress that has been made toward a cure for HIV.
Dr. Jana Dickter, a researcher at City of Hope Medical Center in California, told reporters that a 66-year-old man with HIV who received a stem cell transplant for acute leukemia has been in remission from both conditions for 17 months. .
Dickter, whose research is being presented at the conference, said the patient is the fourth person known to have achieved HIV remission after receiving a stem cell transplant from a donor with a rare genetic mutation .
“This case opens up possibilities for other older people living with HIV and blood cancer to receive a transplant and achieve remission of both diseases if a donor with this rare genetic mutation can be identified,” he said, adding that transplants Stem cell transplants are not an option for most people with HIV because of the significant potential side effects.
Madisa Mine, a virologist at the Botswana Ministry of Health and Welfare, will present research at the conference showing that 95.1% of people living with HIV in the country in 2021 knew their status, that 98% of those people were on antiretroviral treatment and that 97.9 percent of those who received treatment had a suppressed viral load. More than 20% of people aged 15 to 64 in the southern African country are HIV positive.
“Overall, Botswana has made great progress in the last 20 years and we strongly believe that we are well positioned to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030,” Mine said.
According to the UNAIDS report, in 2021, 85% of people worldwide living with HIV knew their status, 88% of these people were receiving treatment, and 92% of people receiving treatment carried a suppressed viral load. UNAIDS has set itself the goal of reaching 95% in all three categories by 2025.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 27, 2022.
Jacob Serebrin, The Canadian Press