Each hour nearly 140 people die from AIDS-related causes.?There are nearly 37 million people living with the disease and there were 2 million new infections reported in 2014.?Much has been done to address the AIDS epidemic in the last 10 years, but there is still work to do to halt the spread of HIV, ensure that people have access to life saving medications and address HIV/AIDS within the larger framework of the Global Sustainable Development Goals.
December 1 is World AIDS Day and provides an opportunity to raise awareness about what has been accomplished and the challenges that remain.?The theme for World AIDS Day 2015 is 'On The Fast Track to End AIDS:Ending the AIDS epidemic as part of the Sustainable Development Goals'.
As part of its strategy to end AIDS as a public health crisis by 2030 UNAIDS adopted a new five year strategy at the 37th Meeting of its Coordinating Board in October. is one of the first in the United Nations system to be aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals, which sets the framework for global development policy over the next 15 years.?
The strategy aims to advance global progress in achieving country set targets for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and to halt and reverse the spread of HIV and contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
World leaders have unanimously committed to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted in September, noted UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his message to mark World AIDS Day, which focused on the intersection between the Global Goals, science, human rights and empowerment.? This commitment reflects the power of solidarity to forge, from a destructive disease, one of the most inclusive movements in modern history.
World AIDS Day also offers an opportunity to assess the progress that has been made since the first World AIDS Day was observed in 2004. ?Fifteen million people are accessing live-saving HIV treatment, new HIV infections have been reduced by 35 per cent ?since 2000 and AIDS-related deaths have been reduced by 42 per cent since the peak in 2004. Front-loading investments in the fragile five-year window up to 2020 could reduce new HIV infections by 89 per cent and AIDS-related deaths by 81 per cent by 2030.
Join the World AIDS map where you can join to show your support and see the UNAIDS facebook event page where individuals and organisations can share events, share stories and photos .
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