Deaths linked to Aids have halved in a decade, official figures shows.<\/p>\n
The condition, which is caused by HIV, used to be one of the\u00a0top 10 causes of death\u00a0worldwide.<\/p>\n
A report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV\/Aids (UNAids) showed deaths had fallen from a peak of 1.9 million in 2005 to 1 million last year.<\/p>\n
It said the “scales have tipped”, with more than half of people getting drug treatment for the first time.<\/p>\n
An HIV infection cannot be cured – it can only be contained with daily doses of antiretroviral therapy.<\/p>\n
Unchecked, it destroys the immune system, causing Aids. At this point people tend to die from other “opportunistic infections” such as tuberculosis.<\/p>\n
Worldwide, 36.7 million are living with HIV and 53% of them are getting the therapy that gives a near-normal life expectancy.<\/p>\n
Michel Sidibe, the executive director of UNAids, said: “We met the 2015 target of 15 million people on treatment and we are on track to double that number to 30 million and meet the 2020 target.<\/p>\n
“We will continue to scale up to reach everyone in need and honour our commitment of leaving no-one behind.”<\/p>\n
UNAids said eastern and southern Africa were “leading the way” and had cut new HIV infections by nearly a third since 2010.<\/p>\n
Life expectancy has increased by 10 years over the past decade too.<\/p>\n
The agency has set a series of goals known as the 90-90-90 targets.<\/p>\n
The aim is for 90% of people with HIV to be diagnosed, 90% of those to get therapy and 90% of those to have their infection suppressed, by 2020.<\/p>\n
In 2016 the figures were 70%, 77% and 82% respectively.<\/p>\n
Mr Sidibe added: “Communities and families are thriving as Aids is being pushed back.”<\/p>\n
However, the agency warned that inadequate treatment in north Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe had seen death rates increase sharply.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Deaths linked to Aids have halved in a decade, official figures shows. The condition, which is caused by HIV, used to be one of the\u00a0top 10 causes of death\u00a0worldwide. A report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV\/Aids (UNAids) showed deaths had fallen from a peak of 1.9 million in 2005 to 1 million […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19],"tags":[3,708],"yoast_head":"\n