World Aids Day: WHO's Millenium Development Goals Saves 7.8m Lives in 15 Years

LAGOS — As the world marks the 2015 World AIDS Day, the World Health Organisation, WHO, yesterday announced that the Millennium Development Goal that was focused on halting and reversing the spread of the virus across the globe has reported 7.8 million lives saved in 15 years.

The organisation further announced that the number of HIV related deaths had dropped by 42 per cent by 2014 from a peak of over 2 million in 2004 to approximately 1.2 million.It however stressed the fact that the world is poised to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

In a report by WHO tagged “Global Health Sector Response to HIV 2000-2015”, it noted that the projections of an end to the epidemic by 2030 is now a lot more realistic than in the past when it seemed unattainable. This, it says, is due to “The rapid scale-up of access to Antiretroviral Therapy, ART, one of the greatest public health achievements in recent times, has made treatment available to more than 16 million people living with HIV across the globe.

“Today, more than 11 million people in the WHO African Region alone are receiving HIV treatment, versus about 11 000 who were taking the medications 15 years ago,” the report added, while maintaining that there remains a lot more to be done as there was still about 60% of all people living with HIV who had not yet been enrolled in any form of antiretroviral treatment.

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