2024 and the decisions made by political officials will determine whether or not the world achieves the goal of eliminating AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, as estimated today by the UN AIDS agency (UNAIDS, Onusida in French), highlighting the progress made in Africa since 2010.

Although the 2023 figures show a better situation globally in terms of the number of new infections, the treatment of HIV-positive patients and a reduction in the number of deaths, the UN agency recalls that the pandemic has killed at least 42 million people and that progress she remains fragile.

In 2023, just under 40 million people were living with the AIDS virus, HIV, the organization’s annual report reveals. There were about 1.3 million new infections last year, about 100,000 fewer than a year earlier.

This is 60% fewer infections than at the peak in 1995, when 3.3 million people were infected with HIV.

But UNAIDS is not satisfied because the goal of 330,000 infections in 2025 seems unattainable.

Also, AIDS kills far less: 630,000 deaths were recorded in 2023, compared to 670,000 the previous year. They are also 69% less than in 2004, the black year of the pandemic.

Access to antiretroviral therapy is at stake, as it is currently very effective. At the end of December 2023, 30.7 million people had access to one of these treatments, up from just 7.7 million in 2010, but this number remains below the 2025 target of 34 million people.

And, crucially, almost a quarter of people infected with the virus do not follow treatment.

East Africa and Australia remain the worst-affected regions: 20.8 million people are living with HIV, 450,000 were infected last year and 260,000 have died.

Although she notes the progress that has been made, Winnie Bianima, the executive director of UNAIDS, underlines that “the world is not on the right track to achieve” the 2030 goal, adding that “we are not sufficiently attacking the inequalities that allow the pandemic of HIV’ to continue.

“One person still dies every minute from HIV-related diseases,” he says.

The stigma and discrimination, and sometimes criminalization, of which certain groups of people are victims translates into much higher infection rates because they cannot (access) help and treatment without risk.

The numbers speak for themselves: worldwide the average HIV prevalence among adults aged 15-49 was 0.8%.

Prevalence is 2.3% among young women and girls aged 15-24 in eastern and southern Africa, 7.7% among gay men and other men who have had sex with men, 3% among male and female workers sex, 5% among injecting drug users, 9.2% among transgender people, and 1.3% among prisoners.

In an interview with AFP, Winnie Byanyima denounced a “well-orchestrated and well-financed campaign” against LGBTI+ rights, reproductive rights and gender equality by countries and socially conservative groups.

And, while in some sub-Saharan African countries new infections have fallen by more than 50% and deaths by up to 60% since 2010, “we also have areas like eastern Europe, central Asia and Latin America where new infections are evolving in a bad direction and are increasing,” he insists.

In eastern Europe and central Asia, only 50% of people infected with HIV receive treatment, and in northern Africa and the Middle East only 49%.

To reinforce that message — which will also stand in good stead during the 25th International AIDS Conference starting today in Germany — Bianima and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk last week joint announcement.

“Stigma kills. Solidarity saves lives”, the text states.

“Together, we call on all countries to withdraw all punitive laws against gay women and men, bisexual, transgender and queer people. Decriminalization of LOATKI+ individuals is necessary to protect everyone’s human rights and health.”