ADDRESSING HIV-AIDS

 People who inject drugs (PWID) are disproportionately affected by

blood-borne infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C. They
are also at an increased risk of fatal overdose.
 The number of people who inject drugs worldwide is estimated at 11.3
million in 2017. Roughly one in eight people who inject drugs lives with
HIV, amounting to 1.4 million people. UNAIDS estimates that the risk of
HIV acquisition among people who inject drugs is 22 higher likely than the
general population.
 Hepatitis C is highly prevalent among PWID, with almost 5.6 million people
living with hepatitis C.

 For PWID living with HIV, co-infection with hepatitis C is highly prevalent,
estimated at 82.4 per cent.

 Among global populations of people in prison the prevalence of HIV

is 3.8 per cent, and depending on the country, can be up to 50 per
cent higher than the prevalence of HIV infection in the general
population.

 The global prevalence of hepatitis B in prison is 15.1 per cent, chronic HBV
infection is 4.8 per cent and active tuberculosis rates are at 2.8 per cent in
prisons globally. The prevalence of these infections in population of people
in prison is also higher than in the general population, due to the
criminalisation of drug use.

 As co-sponsor of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS

(UNAIDS), UNODCs global HIV programme supports countries to achieve
universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support among
people who use drugs and for comprehensive HIV services for people in
prisons.
 Our work is aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in
particular SDG 3 and its target 3.3 to end AIDS by 2030 and the UNAIDS
Fast-Track Strategy 2016-2021 which calls for a 90 per cent of people who
inject drugs and people in prisons to have access to HIV combination
prevention services.

 In June 1981, scientists in the United States reported the first clinical evidence of a disease
that would later become known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. Its cause,
the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), was identified in 1983.
 Since the start of the epidemic around 75 million have become infected with HIV and around
32 million people have died of AIDS-related illnesses. In 2018, there were 37.9 million
people living with HIV.
 HIV is found in the bodily fluids of a person who has been infected - blood, semen, vaginal
fluids and breast milk. It can be transmitted through unprotected sexual contact.  It is also
spread among people who inject drugs with non-sterile injecting needles, as well as through
unscreened blood products. It can spread from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth
or breast feeding when the mother is HIV-positive.

 Antiretroviral treatment
 Over the ensuing decades, the rate of infection soared dramatically, as did the rate of
fatalities. But eventually, new antiretroviral treatment began to extend the lives of those who
were infected. As of 2018, 23.3 million people living with HIV were accessing antiretroviral
therapy, up from 8 million in 2010. At the same time, even though new HIV infections have
declined, there are still an unacceptably high number of new HIV infections and AIDS-related
deaths occurring each year. In 2018, around 1.7 million people were newly infected with HIV
and 770 thousand people died of AIDS-related illnesses.

Ne
 w HIV infections have fallen by 16% since 2010 (by 41% among children) and AIDS-related
deaths have fallen by 55% since the peak in 2004. 

 UNAIDS
 The UN family has been in the vanguard of this progress. Since 1996, its efforts have been
coordinated by UNAIDS — the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. UNAIDS is an
innovative joint venture of the United Nations family, which brings together the efforts and
resources of 11 UN system organizations to unite the world against AIDS. These are:
UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, the ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World
Bank.

 Goals to end AIDS

 Millennium Development Goals
 In 2000, at the General Assembly’s Millennium Summit world leaders set specific goals to
stop and reverse the spread of HIV. Heads of State and Representatives of Governments
issued the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS which set out a series of national targets
and global actions to reverse the epidemic. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria was created in 2002. And in 2006, the Assembly held a high-level review of progress
made since its special session, adopting a 53-point Political Declaration on the way towards
universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services.
 World leaders gathered in New York in June 2011 for the General Assembly High Level
Meeting on AIDS. The promises they made defined the next steps in the global AIDS
response.
 In 2015, the world delivered on the AIDS targets of Millennium Development Goal 6—halting
and reversing the AIDS epidemic. This remarkable achievement marks the first time a global
health target has been met and exceeded. By mid-2015, the number of people accessing
antiretroviral therapy reached nearly 16 million—double the number just five years earlier.


 The world has halted and reversed the spread of HIV.
The epidemic has been forced into decline. New HIV
infections and AIDS-related deaths have fallen
dramatically since the peak of the epidemic. Now the
response is going one step further—ending the AIDS
epidemic by 2030.


 Sustainable Development Goals

 Ending AIDS by 2030 is an integral part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
which were unanimously adopted by United Nations Member States in 2015. The lessons
learned in responding to HIV will play an instrumental role in the success of many of the
SDGs, notably SDG 3, good health and well-being, and the goals on gender equality and
women’s empowerment, reduced inequalities, global partnerships and just, peaceful and
inclusive societies.

 Fast–Track to end AIDS: the 90–90–90 targets

 To take the AIDS response forward, UNAIDS has developed a Fast-Track approach to reach
a set of time-bound targets by 2020. The targets include 90% of all people living with HIV
knowing their HIV status, 90% of people who know their HIV-positive status having access to
treatment and 90% of people on treatment having suppressed viral loads. They also include
reducing new HIV infections by 75% and achieving zero discrimination.