World Aids Day 2014: Campaigners say world has reached 'beginning of end' of Aids pandemic
HIV is increasingly concentrated among hard-to-reach populations such as injecting drug users, gay men and sex workers - who are often stigmatised and have trouble accessing treatment and prevention services.
1 Dec 2014The world has finally reached "the beginning of the end" of the AIDS pandemic that has infected and killed millions in the past 30 years, according to a leading campaign group fighting HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus).
The campaigners say the number of people newly infected with HIV over the last year was lower than the number of HIV-positive people who joined those getting access to the medicines they need to take for life to keep AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) at bay.
Only one per cent of babies born to mothers who have HIV are HIV positive because of treatments now available.
But in a report to mark World Aids Day on 1 December, the ONE campaign, an advocacy group working to end poverty and preventable disease in Africa, warned that reaching this milestone does not mean the end of Aids was around the corner.
"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.
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