BERLIN, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The battle against HIV/AIDS made unprecedented progress in 2010, with new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths falling to the lowest levels since the peak of the epidemic, the United Nation said on Monday.
Releasing its new annual report in Berlin, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, or UNAIDS, said that dramatic improvement in access to HIV treatment contributed a lot to the progress on controlling the disease.
About 47 percent of the estimated 14.2 million people eligible for treatment in low and middle-income countries received lifesaving antiretroviral therapy in 2010, an increase of 1.35 million from 2009, according to the UNAIDS and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Due to better access to medical care, the number of people dying of AIDS fell to 1.8 million in 2010, down from a peak of 2.2 million in 2006 and 1.9 million last year, the report said.
With improved access to treatment, a total of 2.5 million deaths had been averted in low and middle-income nations since 1995, including an estimated 700,000 in 2010 alone, said the UN agency, which leads the global campaign against AIDS.
New studies also showed that timely treatments can help reduce the number of new infections.
In 2010, there were some 2.7 million people who were infected by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, 15 percent fewer than that in 2001, and 21 percent lower compared with the peak of the epidemic in 1997. The number of new infections among children had declined to 390,000 in 2010, compared with the peak of 550,000 in 2001.
"We are on the verge of a significant breakthrough in the AIDS response," said Executive Director of UNAIDS Michel Sidibe. "New HIV infections continue to drop and more people than ever are starting treatment."
"Even in a very difficult financial crisis, countries are delivering results in the AIDS response," he added.
Overall, the number of people with HIV stood at a record high of 34 million in 2010, up from 33.3 million in 2009, which experts said was mainly because some patients could live longer with better treatment.
Sub-Saharan Africa remained as the worst-hit and most vulnerable area, as it accounted for 68 percent of all HIV-infected people but only 12 percent of world population. Around 70 percent of new HIV infections and over 60 percent of AIDS-related deaths happened in this area.
However, the most significant change in anti-retroviral therapy coverage also occurred in the region, "with a 20 percent increase between 2009 and 2010 alone," the UNAIDS said, adding that the number of new HIV infections dropped by over 26 percent at the same time.
Asia had the second largest group of people living with HIV, partly because of its huge population. However, compared with the epidemic's peak in 1996, new HIV infections dipped 40 percent in this region.
In South and Southeast Asia, 270,000 new infections joined some 4 million people living with HIV, while the number of AIDS-related deaths totaled 250,000 in 2010.
Looking into the future, the UNAIDS called for "smarter investments to deliver a better package," saying that the new framework for AIDS investments should be focused on high-impact, evidence-based, high-value strategies against the backdrop of a difficult economic climate and some developed countries' austerity moves.
To achieve the UN target of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2015, the new framework for investments has to fund 22 billion to 24 billion U.S. dollars, the report said. However, donor funding was reduced by 10 percent to 6.9 billion dollars in 2010, compared with 7.6 billion in 2009.
Sidibe stressed that the future of AIDS resourcing depends on "smart investments," which are "community driven not commodity driven," while it puts "people at the centre of the approach, not the virus."
Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) also called on governments to keep their investments.
"Never, in more than a decade of treating people living with HIV/AIDS, have we been at such a promising moment to really turn this epidemic around," said Tido von Schoen-Angerer, Executive Director of the Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines of MSF.
"Governments in some of the hardest-hit countries want to act on the science, seize this moment and reverse the AIDS epidemic. But this means nothing if there is no money to make it happen," he said.
