2015. 48 p.
UNAIDS–Lancet Commission on Defeating AIDS—Advancing Global Health
Lancet, 386, 9989, pp. 171-218
After more than a decade of major achievements, the AIDS response is at a crucial juncture, both in terms of its immediate trajectory and its sustainability, as well as its place in the new global health and development agendas. In May, 2013, the UNAIDS–Lancet Commission— a diverse group of experts in HIV, health, and development, young people, people living with HIV and affected communities, activists, and political leaders— was established to investigate how the AIDS response could evolve in a new era of sustainable development. The UNAIDS–Lancet Commission has come together at a moment when the lessons of the AIDS response, including its whole-of-society perspective, can be informative and even trans formational for other spheres of global health. The path to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, as set out in this report, should be a major part of the post-2015 development agenda. Thanks to considerable resources, leadership, community mobilisation, and innovation, enormous gains have been made in controlling the HIV epidemic, saving millions of people from infection and AIDS-related illness and death. Thus, in 2013, the number of new HIV infections had decreased by 38% since 2001 to 2∙1 million, and the number of AIDS-related deaths decreased by 35% since 2005 to 1∙5 million. Anti retroviral treatment (ART) fundamentally changed the course of the epidemic by substantially reducing mortality from HIV infection and as part of HIV control strategies. However, many populations around the world are still highly affected by HIV, particularly young women in southern and eastern Africa, men who have sex with men (MSM), sex workers, and injecting drug users. Additionally, there are concerning signs of complacency and setbacks in countries and populations that had previously made substantial progress.
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