AIDS campaigners say pandemic has finally reached tipping point

Aljazeera

For the first time since the HIV virus started spreading across the globe 30 years ago, the world has reached “the beginning of the end of AIDS,” a leading campaign group said on Monday, while cautioning that further concerted efforts are needed to control the disease worldwide.

In a study to mark World AIDS Day, the advocacy group ONE Campaign reported that for the first time since the pandemic began, the number of HIV-infected people added to antiretroviral treatment in 2013 was greater than the number of people newly infected with the deadly virus.

UNAIDS, the United Nations AIDS agency, says that by June 2014, some 13.6 million people globally had access to AIDS drugs, a dramatic improvement on the 5 million who were getting treatment in 2010.

The AIDS pandemic that began more than three decades ago has killed up to 40 million people worldwide.

"We've passed the tipping point in the AIDS fight at the global level, but not all countries are there yet, and the gains made can easily stall or unravel," said Erin Hohlfelder, ONE's director of global health policy.