UN report shows a drop in the number of HIV deaths in 2016

The fight against HIV AIDS has become more serious, as more than half of the population infected are on anti retro-viral therapy. Recently, the ministry of public health in Cameroon passed an order, asking health personnel in health facilities to systematically screen every patient who comes to the facility for HIV, irrespective of the reason they came. Therefore any positive case is immediately placed on highly active anti retro-viral therapy(HAART), irrespective of the patient's CD4 count. This was not the case before, where the criteria for treatment was based on a CD4 count i.e if a positive case has a low CD4 count, he or she will start treatment but if his or her CD4 count is high, treatment will not be given. The latter criteria was not the best as patients went on living with the HIV, and the virus continued multiplying, damaging the immune system more and more, and some patients even died, while others continued infecting other people, since their viral load was so high. But this "test and treat" approach seems to be the best since it reduces patients' viral load, hence reducing the number of deaths and new infected cases.
In its latest global report on the pandemic, which has killed around 35 million people worldwide since it began in the 1980s, the UNAIDS agency said there were particularly encouraging signs in Africa, a continent ravaged by the disease.
Eastern and southern Africa are leading the way, reducing new HIV infections by nearly 30 percent since 2010, the report said. Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda and Zimbabwe have gone further, cutting new HIV infections by 40 per cent or more since 2010.

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And among the most significant impacts of a vast scale-up of HIV testing, treatment and prevention programs, has been in the reduction of AIDS-related deaths, which have dropped by almost half since 2005.
As a result, more people in what had been some of the worst affected countries, are now living longer. In eastern and southern Africa, for example, average life expectancy increased by nearly 10 years from 2006 to 2016.
“Communities and families are thriving as AIDS is being pushed back,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe. “As we bring the epidemic under control, health outcomes are improving and nations are becoming stronger.”
The report warned, however, that not all regions are making progress. In the Middle East and North Africa, and in eastern Europe and central Asia, AIDS-related deaths have risen by 48 per cent and 38 per cent respectively, it said, mostly due to HIV-positive patients not getting access to treatment.

Written by Ashembwom Stephanie