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UNAIDS / WORLD AIDS REPORT
STORY: UNAIDS / WORLD AIDS REPORT
TRT: 2.40
SOURCE: UNAIDS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / 11 NOVEMBER 2011, BOBETE, LESOTHO / 11 NOVEMBER 2011, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI / 11 NOVEMBER 2011, BANGKOK, THAILAND / JULY 2011, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA / APRIL 2011, MINSK, BELARUS / APRIL 2011, MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
11 NOVEMBER 2011, BOBETE, LESOTHO
1. Wide shot, plane landing and taxiing on Bobete airstrip
2. Wide shot, Palesa Chetane walks from plane to the clinic
3. Wide shot, crowd outside clinic
4. Med shot, Nurse Palesa Chetane calls in Mantsane Maanela
5. Various shots, Nurse Palesa Chetane and Mantsane Maanela during check-up, prescription and ARV treatment collection
RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
6. SOUNBITE (English) Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director:
“Even in this period of very difficult financial crisis we are producing results; results for people. We are seeing more countries stabilizing their epidemic and even reducing the number of new infections.”
11 NOVEMBER 2011, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
7. Wide shot, displaced person camp
8. Various shots, condom distribution in camp
RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
9. SOUNBITE (English) Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director:
“We could with less money reduce the number of new infections by more than 50 percent.”
11 NOVEMBER 2011, BANGKOK, THAILAND
10. Various shots, youth group workshop
JULY 2011, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
11. Wide shot, exterior Karaoke bar
12. Med shot, workers walking up stairs
13. Med shot, sex workers seated
14. Various shots, HIV patient and former sex worker in HIV treatment consultation
15. Various shots, ARV pills
APRIL 2011, MINSK, BELARUS
16. Various shots, pouring methadone substitution therapy into cup
17. Various shots, former injecting drug user taking methadone treatment
APRIL 2011, MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
18. Close up, ARV pills being poured onto black
19. Various shots, person receiving HIV test
Global efforts to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS are showing optimistic results, but transformative efforts are needed to accelerate progress, according to the latest report released today by the United Nations agency leading the fight against the disease.
The Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic 2011, produced by the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), shows there has been a significant decrease in infection rates and HIV-related deaths, as well as an increase in the number of people who have access to treatment.
HIV infections rates are at their lowest since the peak of the epidemic in 1997, with 2.7 million new infections in 2010, mainly due to changes in young people’s sexual behaviour, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS noted that progress in recent years is notable since it has occurred in spite of funding cuts due to the global economic crisis. Last year, funding from donor countries went from $7.6 billion to $6.9 billion, representing a 10 per cent reduction.
SOUNBITE (English) Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director:
“Even in this period of very difficult financial crisis we are producing results; results for people. We are seeing more countries stabilizing their epidemic and even reducing the number of new infections.”
Twenty-one high-prevalence countries reported declines in HIV occurrence among people aged 15 to 24 last year, as opposed to 16 countries in 2009. The most pronounced falls happened in countries in sub-Saharan Africa such as Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Togo and Zimbabwe.
Sidibé express optimism that in the next eight years these rates of decline will continue.
SOUNBITE (English) Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director:
“We could with less money reduce the number of new infections by more than 50 percent.”
According to the report, behavioural changes, which include the use of condoms, having fewer sexual partners, and young people waiting longer before becoming sexually active, were the main causes for progress in Africa. The region, however, continues to be the most heavily affected, with 68 per cent of people living with HIV residing in sub-Saharan Africa.
The report also shows an increase in the number of people living with HIV worldwide – now at an estimated 34 million, up 17 per cent from 2001. Although the rise in this figure partly reflects new HIV infections, it is also a result of increased access to antiretroviral therapy, which has helped reduce AIDS-related deaths. Presently, 6.6 million people in low- and middle-income countries – almost half of the people eligible for treatment – have access to antiretroviral therapy.
The report also estimates that a total of 2.5 million deaths have been averted in low and middle-income countries since 1995 due to antiretroviral therapy, with 700,000 AIDS-related deaths averted in 2010 alone.
In addition, UNAIDS stressed in its report that although the data points to incremental progress, a transformative response is needed to meet the 2015 targets set by Member States in June through the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS, and to support the vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths in the near future.
The report also maps a new framework for AIDS investments, which focuses on getting high impact and high-value strategies. The framework is based on several elements, including focusing interventions for populations at higher risk such as sex workers and people who inject drugs; promoting behavioural change programmes; and increasing treatment and care for people living with HIV.
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