- 123,000 to 293,000 new HIV cases and 69,000 to 148,000 with AIDS-related deaths in the next two years.
- UNAIDS has recommended a new set of objectives for 2025.
On Tuesday, On World AIDS Day, the latest report from the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has predicted that the continuing Covid-19 pandemic could transpire in 123,000 to 293,000 new HIV cases and 69,000 to 148,000 with AIDS-related deaths in the next two years.
In the report titled “Prevailing against pandemics by putting people at the centre”, UNAIDS has recommended that the global AIDS response was off record even before the pandemic.
However, the speedy spread of the coronavirus has produced additional obstacles.
For the world to end AIDS by 2030: As a member of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), UNAIDS asked countries to make large investments in worldwide pandemic responses and select a new set of strong, arduous but attainable HIV objectives.
Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS Executive Director stated, “The collective failure to invest sufficiently in comprehensive, rights-based, people-centred HIV responses has come at a terrible price.”
“Implementing just the most politically palatable programs will not turn the tide against Covid-19 or end AIDS. To get the global response back on track will require putting people first and tackling the inequalities on which epidemics thrive.”
He further stated, “No country can defeat these pandemics on its own. A challenge of this magnitude can only be defeated by forging global solidarity, accepting a shared responsibility and mobilizing a response that leaves no one behind. We can do this by sharing the load and working together.”
UNAIDS has recommended a new set of objectives for 2025. If executed, they will make the UNSDGs of ceasing the AIDS epidemic by 2030 possible.
Struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic, the UNAIDS chief has restated her call for global unity and the world to learn from mistakes of the HIV response.
