GENEVA: Forty years on since the first AIDS cases were reported, the United Nations said on Thursday it was cautiously optimistic that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) — the virus that causes the disease — could be beaten by 2030.

The UNAIDS agency said at least 40 countries were on track to achieve a 90-percent drop in AIDS-related mortality by 2030, including nine countries in eastern and southern Africa.

In a report, the Joint UN Programme on HIV and AIDS said that 37.6 million people worldwide were living with HIV in 2020.

Of those, 27.4 million were receiving treatment — more than three times the 7.8 million in 2010.

The roll-out of affordable, quality treatment is estimated to have averted 16.2 million deaths since 2001, UNAIDS said.

Over the decade, the number of AIDS-related deaths fell by 43 percent to 690,000 in 2020, in large part due to the roll-out of antiretroviral therapy, said UNAIDS.

But progress in reducing new HIV infections was slower — down 30 percent since 2010, with 1.5 million people newly infected with the virus last year compared to 2.1 million in 2010.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2021