TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
UNAIDS calls for urgent efforts in Asia-Pacific to end AIDS by 2030
A new global AIDS report by UNAIDS suggests that Asia-Pacific governments must invest urgently in prevention programs and community-led initiatives for the region, among those with the highest prevalence in the world, can attain its 2030 AIDS prevention goal.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Members of the Jaringan Lintas Isu (cross-issue network) community, better known as JATI, hold red ribbons on Dec. 1, 2022 during a rally outside Malang City Hall in East Java to mark World AIDS Day. (Antara/Ari Bowo Sucipto)
E
nding AIDS as a public health threat in the Asia-Pacific region by 2030 is achievable only if leaders take rigorous actions now to ensure necessary resources for HIV responses and human rights protection for everyone, reveals this year’s global AIDS update from UNAIDS.
The Urgency of Now: AIDS at A Crossroads report acknowledges the progress some countries have made in reducing HIV infections and AIDS cases, but also highlights the significant treatment gaps and stigma still faced by people living with HIV.
With a new HIV infection every 2 minutes, governments in Asia-Pacific countries must urgently invest in prevention programs and community-led initiatives, it suggests.
Asia-Pacific was home to 6.7 million people living with HIV in 2023, meaning it had the largest HIV epidemic in the world outside eastern and southern Africa, said Eamonn Murphy, UNAIDS director of regional support teams for Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
“To achieve the global prevention target, Asia and the Pacific, with its huge populations, will be absolutely critical,” Murphy said on Wednesday during the regional launch of the 2024 global AIDS update.
“But we must lift the game. We must do more, and do it faster,” he said.
The Asia-Pacific regions accounted for a quarter of new HIV infections in the world in 2023, with 300,000 new infections. Men having sex with men, drug users, sex workers and transgender people are among those at risk for HIV infection.
