India is among the list of ten nations that account for more than 95% of all new Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, infections in the Asia-Pacific region, a UN report said. The document titled, “Ending AIDS: Progress towards the 90-90-90 targets” said India needs to increase its its efforts to tackle HIV/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome infections.
The report said China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Myanmar, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia are the other countries that are on the list. The annual number of new HIV infections in Asia and the Pacific has declined 13% over the last six years, it added.
The UN report analyses the challenges being faced to set the 90-90-90 targets. The targets were set in 2014 to ensure that by 2020, 90% of those affected with HIV know their status, 90% of all HIV-diagnosed people receive antiretroviral therapy and 90% of those taking the therapy are virally suppressed.
The study found that nations across the globe have made progress in HIV treatment. At least 53% of the people living with HIV now have access to medical care, the report said and added that AIDS-related deaths have also nearly halved since 2005, it showed.
The report said the Asia-Pacific region’s HIV epidemic is largely “concentrated among key populations, including sex workers and their clients, gay men and other men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, and transgender people.”
UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé said that more funds and better laws are needed to fight against HIV/AIDS. “We must not fail children, women and girls, young people and key populations,” Sidibé said. “We must engage with men differently,” he said in the report. He added that men are being left behind in the push to 90–90–90, in turn affecting the lives of women and children.
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