The global roll-out of HIV treatment has saved millions of lives: an estimated 16.5 million AIDS-related deaths have been averted since 2001. In 2020, there were 680 000 deaths from AIDS-related causes, a decline of 58% from 2001 to 2020.

Four decades after the first AIDS cases emerged, new data confirmed that millions of lives were saved as medical treatments were deployed worldwide, UNAIDS notes.

At least 40 countries are on track to achieve a 90% reduction in AIDS-related mortality by 2030, including nine nations in eastern and southern Africa.

In the same way, it was stressed that these encouraging figures are not unrelated to HIV testing and treatment policy promoted by UNAIDS around the world.

At the end of 2020, 84% of people living with HIV knew their HIV status, 73% were accessing antiretroviral therapy, and 66% virally suppressed.

Likewise, among the 37.7 million people living with HIV globally in 2020, an estimated 27.5 million people living with HIV were on treatment – a number that has more than tripled since 2010, but that is still short of the 2020 target of 30 million.

HIV testing and treatment have increased significantly in last 20 years, but health service gaps become disproportionate among children, UNAIDS warned.

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