Why does this declaration have the confidence to end the AIDS epidemic in 2030?

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　　40 years later, dozens of countries have achieved or exceeded the 2020 target set by the 2016 UN General Assembly-which shows that the global AIDS prevention and control target is achievable.

However, inequality is also hindering the realization of new goals. The road for mankind to "subdue" the virus with science has never been smooth sailing.

　　On June 8, local time, the United Nations General Assembly voted to pass a political declaration on ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

　　Since the first report of AIDS cases on June 5, 1981, 40 years later, dozens of countries have achieved or exceeded the 2020 target set by the 2016 United Nations General Assembly-which shows that the global AIDS prevention and control target is achievable.

　　One

　　The political declaration adopted on the 8th promised to limit the number of new HIV infections per year to less than 370,000 cases and the number of deaths related to AIDS per year to less than 250,000 by 2025, and to eliminate HIV-related cases. All forms of stigma and discrimination will be implemented to achieve the goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

　　The political declaration promises to make prevention a priority, ensuring that by 2025, an effective comprehensive HIV prevention program covers 95% of people at risk of infection; it also proposes to achieve the "three 95%" target by 2030: 95% of people living with HIV Can be diagnosed, 95% of those who are diagnosed can get antiretroviral treatment, and 95% of those who receive treatment have the virus suppressed in their bodies.

　　On June 5, 1981, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a case report of 5 AIDS patients in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly. This was the first official record of AIDS in the world.

In 1982, the disease was officially named AIDS.

　　On June 3, the UNAIDS released a summary report on the 40-year history of global AIDS prevention and control.

　　The report entitled "Global Commitments and Regional Actions" shows that 40 years after the first AIDS case was reported, dozens of countries have achieved or exceeded the 2020 AIDS prevention and control target set by the 2016 United Nations General Assembly:

　　In 2020, 27.4 million of the 37.6 million people living with HIV are receiving treatment, compared with 7.8 million in 2010.

　　Since 2001, it is estimated that 16.2 million deaths have been avoided thanks to the promotion of affordable, high-quality AIDS treatment.

Since 2010, the number of AIDS-related deaths has fallen by 43%.

　　two

　　Forty years have passed. Although AIDS is still difficult to cure, continuous scientific research, huge investment in prevention and treatment, and long-term publicity and education have gradually turned AIDS into a controllable chronic disease.

　　In 1996, a scientific research team led by Chinese scientist Professor Dayi He proposed cocktail therapy, and scientists around the world subsequently developed more AIDS drugs and combination medications.

　　At present, dozens of AIDS drugs have been approved for marketing worldwide.

　　On March 6, 2019, an AIDS patient in London became the second cured person in the world after receiving stem cell transplantation for three years.

　　The first cured patient appeared earlier in 2007: American Brown received a stem cell transplant in Berlin, and no more HIV was detected in his body since then.

　　What needs to be pointed out is that regardless of the first "Berlin patient" or the second "London patient", experts only call it a "special case", and the treatments they use are currently not universal.

　　Nevertheless, this still allows mankind to see the dawn of a cure for AIDS.

　　However, perhaps because of the spread of the new crown epidemic, a report issued by the United Nations on April 30 said that in 2020, there will be 1.7 million new HIV infections and 690,000 AIDS-related deaths worldwide, which is in line with the 2020 set in 2016. There is still a gap in the goal of "double 500,000".

　　This also shows that the road for mankind to "subdue" viruses with science has never been smooth sailing.

　　three

　　In fact, this is not the first time the United Nations has proposed the goal of "ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030".

　　At the high-level meeting on AIDS held in 2016, the "Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS" adopted by the United Nations promised to "end the AIDS pandemic by 2030", and proposed that in 2020, "people living with HIV each year will The number of deaths due to AIDS-related causes" has both dropped to the "double 500,000" target of less than 500,000.

　　The UNAIDS report pointed out that last year, women and girls accounted for half of all new HIV infections worldwide.

Among 15-19 year-olds in sub-Saharan Africa, 6 out of every 7 newly infected people are girls.

　　Differences between regions also exist.

　　Significant progress has been made in most parts of East Africa and South Africa.

Take South Africa as an example. Since 2010, the number of new infections and related deaths has decreased by about 40%.

In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America, the number of new infections is still increasing.

　　On April 30, UN Secretary-General Guterres said that inequality is preventing human beings from achieving the goal of "eliminating" AIDS by 2030. He called on the international community to return to this goal by eliminating inequality.

　　He believes that inequality in the field of AIDS prevention and treatment is the main reason for the overall non-compliance.

Unequal factors involve gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, income level, and status of infected persons.

　　At present, the global AIDS prevention and control community and the United Nations AIDS Program have formulated an ambitious and achievable strategy, the core of which is to eliminate inequality and to allow AIDS prevention and treatment measures to benefit the disadvantaged.

　　In the political declaration adopted by the UN General Assembly on June 8, it promised to increase funding for AIDS prevention and treatment, and strengthen global solidarity. By 2025, the annual investment in AIDS prevention and treatment in low- and middle-income countries will be increased to 29 billion US dollars.

　　Studies have shown that every additional US$1 in investment in the global AIDS prevention and control strategy will bring more than US$7 in return on health benefits.

Zhao Xiaozhan