Scary numbers about HIV: 78 million people are infected, 35 million people die

The United Nations on November 21 published an updated report on the AIDS epidemic, which showed that although the treatment of this deadly disease has progressed, there are still alarming numbers.

The annual World AIDS Day report of the United Nations HIV / AIDS Joint Program (UNAIDS) shows that since the HIV virus began to be discovered in the 1980s, 78 million people have been infected so far. , and 35 million people died from this pandemic.

In 2015 alone, there were about 2.1 million new cases of HIV infection globally, of which 19% were young women aged 15-24.

However, more and more people infected with HIV have access to treatments.

The Reuters news agency cited UNAIDS as saying more than 18 million people have so far had access to AIDS treatment, up 1.2 million from the end of 2015.

According to UNAIDS, the increasing number of people being treated makes the number of annual deaths due to the AIDS epidemic drop by 45% to 1.1 million in 2015, from the peak of about 2 million in 2005. .

UNAIDS said that 18.2 million people infected with HIV have now been treated.(Photo: Alamy Stock Photo).

However, when HIV-positive people live longer, the challenges of taking care of them, preventing the virus from spreading and minimizing infection become difficult, even though treatment drugs can reduce levels. The level of virus in the patient's blood drops to near zero and greatly reduces the risk of transmission.

"We have made significant progress in treatment, but the results are also very fragile," UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibe said when the report was published.

With the complexity of HIV virus, the report shows that people are particularly vulnerable at some point in life. The report calls for a "lifecycle" approach to help and provide precautions for everyone in every stage.

When HIV-infected people become older, they are at risk of developing long-term side effects from HIV treatment, creating resistance to drugs and needing to treat other diseases such as tuberculosis and hepatitis C .

The report said that the number of people using HIV medicines was 18.2 million, and also showed rapid progress in bringing AIDS medicines to those in need.

In 2015, there were 5.8 million people over the age of 50 living with HIV - the highest ever.

UNAIDS said the United Nations is aiming for the number of 30 million HIV-infected people treated by 2020.