In commemorating World AIDS Day on Thursday, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) executive director Michel Sidibé said the international community stood “in solidarity with the 78 million people who have become infected with HIV”.

With this year’s theme of “Hands Up for HIV Prevention”, the world also remembers “the 35 million who have died from AIDS-related illnesses since the first cases of HIV were reported”, the UN under-secretary-general said on the UNAIDS website.

Today, “more than 18 million people are on life-saving HIV treatment and country after country is on track to virtually eliminate HIV transmission from mother to child”, Sidibé added.

However, the number of new infections of HIV “is not declining among adults”. Sidibé cited young women in sub-Saharan Africa who face the triple threat of a high risk of HIV infection, low rates of HIV testing and poor adherence to HIV treatment.

On Wednesday UNAIDS in New York awarded UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his leadership in “reducing the impact of HIV and expanding access to health for millions of people”, said Sidibé. “He has been consistent in his support for the most vulnerable [...] and remains a staunch human rights defender for the people most affected by the epidemic.”

Reports cited stigma as a major reason for low rates of HIV testing.

From Manila, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported on Thursday that a senator, Risa Hontiveros, underwent HIV testing at the senate on Tuesday to not only raise awareness about the virus but also to encourage the public to take the test, which she said was free at social hygiene clinics.

An HIV test, Hontiveros said, could spell the difference between life and death. “It’s important that all individuals should be open to undergoing a voluntary HIV test especially now that our health authorities are saying that one out of two people with HIV are not aware of their disease so we need this kind of information for our safety, so we can save our lives and become healthy,” she said.

“We need to break down this barrier that prevents Filipinos from getting tested, especially that one in two persons living with HIV is not diagnosed,” Hontiveros, chairperson of the senate committee on health and demography, said in a separate statement.

The senator cited a Department of Health report that said there were 25 new cases of HIV infection every day in the Philippines.

Hontiveros is also pushing to lower the age of those allowed to take the HIV test, from the present 18 years old to 15 years old and above.

“If HIV testing would be opened to youth as young as 15 years old, then they would no longer need parental consent,” she said.

Young people are seen at the losing end of the fight against HIV, with Hontiveros citing some adolescents’ “risky behavior”, which she said could lead to the spread of the virus.

Also on Thursday, Reuters reported that China’s first lady and World Heath Organization HIV/AIDS prevention goodwill ambassador attended an event at a Beijing university on Tuesday to raise awareness among students.

Over 2,300 students between 15 and 24 tested positive for HIV/AIDS in the first nine months of this year, with new cases in the group increasing four times since 2010, according to the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Xinhua News Agency reported.

From Laos, the Vientiane Times reported that the health ministry and development partners had set up 168 centers countrywide to provide free consultations and HIV tests.

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